Ice Age (2018)
by Sim0ns11
Summary: Have you ever wondered what a live-action remake of "Ice Age", just like the one of "The Jungle Book" that came out in 2016 and the one of "The Lion King" that will come out in 2019, would be like? Read, and you'll know! (Co-writer: Ninxi)
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, everyone! First of all, you should know that English is not my first language (I'm Italian) so most likely there will be grammar mistakes (maybe there are mistakes in this sentence, too XD), I'm trying my best but I can't be perfect, so if you see a mistake, please let me know and I'll correct it.**

 **I'd like to thank the user Ninxi who is the co-writer of this story.**

 **Ice Age belongs to Blue Sky Studios.**

 **Enjoy! :D**

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 **20,000 years ago – Yukon, Canada**

One morning, inside a cave, a female brown-haired woolly mammoth was sleeping. However, she looked very agitated and kept tossing and turning, while tears were rolling down her cheeks.

 _"It should have been you!"_

 _"It was all your fault!"_

 _"You don't deserve someone who loves you anymore!"_

 _"Leave right now!"_

These voices were echoing in her head, making her situation even worse.

"No!" She screamed, waking up startled. Then, the mammoth realized where she was and, little by little, wheezed less and less.

"It was just a dream … it was just a dream." She kept telling herself, while she wiped her tears with her trunk.

When she was calm enough, the pachyderm stood up, revealing that she had an above-average height of ten feet, and headed towards the mouth of the cave. Before she could even get out of there, she heard many voices coming from outside.

As soon as she came out, she noticed hundreds and hundreds of mammals of several species. They were apparently migrating, going down a tundra plain, with snow on some parts.

There were mainly steppe bisons and Yukon horses, but also some reindeer.

"Been a while since I saw such a great migration." The mammoth sighed, immersed in memories, not noticing she was still walking.

"Watch your step, giant lady!" A voice yelled angrily. She looked down, seeing a small herd of horses. The stallion was the one that talked.

"Don't be rude, Eddie." One of the mares scolded him.

"If you're looking for the other mammoths, they've already left." The other mare explained.

Those words someway shocked her, who started wheezing. It didn't go unnoticed by the horses, who looked at her worried and confused.

"Are you okay?" The only foal, a male, asked innocently.

Before anyone could see that coming, the mammoth turned in the blink of an eye.

"What the-" Eddie couldn't finish the sentence because he was forced to drop to the ground not to be hit by her tusks, and so did the mares. The pachyderm started walking in the opposite direction of the migration.

Right after that, a few reindeer narrowly avoided the big mammal and "roared" at her in annoyance before picking up the pace, replaced by several irritated voices from bisons and horses.

"Are you nuts?"

"Get out of the way!" An adolescent male bison, in a bachelor herd, yelled.

"There's a migration going on here!" Another young bull added.

"What's wrong with you?"

Meanwhile, the foal, confused by all his family members lying on the ground, comically got down too.

* * *

Not far away, an Arctic ground squirrel with a beige pelt and his mouth stuffed with food for hibernation was looking for a burrow to hibernate in.

After a few seconds, he finally found it, and quickly reached the hole. But when the rodent got inside, a strange noise interrupted him. He walked back scared, and turned to see an American badger.

The squirrel realized that he couldn't escape, being in the burrow with his lower half; all he could do was stare into the badger's dark menacing eyes.

The carnivore opened its mouth, showing his sharp teeth, and growled, ready to end the life of the small mammal. The rodent screamed in fear, and all his food poured out of his mouth.

But miraculously, and strangely, the badger started moving back, and quickly ran away. The squirrel got confused, but then he heard footsteps behind him.

When he turned, he saw a male giant short-faced bear, with light yellow fur, and immediately passed out from fear, hitting the ground. He wandered by the squirrel curiously, sniffing him.

"Huh, he fell asleep." The bear observed, talking with a lisp, not realizing what actually happened to the squirrel.

The squirrel made no movement as the bear nudged him.

"Hmm, I guess I'll take you. Maybe we could be friends. We're both so lonely! You look so scared in your sleep... so rattled. A rattled squirrel. I should call you... squirrel rattle? No. Scrattle? Nah. Scrat? I like that! Scrat."

The bear put the squirrel gently on his back and began walking again.

"You might think it's strange that a bear is looking for friends." He explained, like the rodent was conscious, continuing "Well, the truth's that my mother and my siblings abandoned me when I was a kid."

"Since then, I've always wanted to find someone who cared about me." The bear sighed sadly.

"Sidney" A creepy girl voice yelled.

"But not that someone." He shivered.

"Sidney?" The one who talked became visible. It was a female short-faced faced bear with brown hair.

He looked around, needing a way out, but there was nothing. He had no choice but to meet her.

"You teach a lady raised by speechless wolves how to talk, and she suddenly falls in love with you because they are monogamous!" The he-bear muttered, disgusted.

"Sidney!" She exclaimed joyfully, noticing him. She started running towards the male and reached him in a few seconds.

"Hi, Sylvia." He told her, trying not to show his discomfort.

"I knew you'd have waited for me!" She said happily.

"Um, er…" Sidney didn't know how to get out of that awkward situation. He was slowly backing away, when Scrat, still unconscious, fell from his back.

"Great! You've brought me breakfast." Sylvia was about to eat the squirrel in one bite, but Sid was able to grab him away from her just in time.

"Stop! This is my friend, Scrat, not a meal!" He explained, and said, with a look of false sadness "I guess you wouldn't like to stay with a vegetarian."

"No, on the contrary, I love how you care about every single creature." She told him with admiration.

"Obviously." Sidney muttered, rolling his eyes.

"So, shall we migrate?" She asked.

"Huh, well…" He got an idea after seeing a cave "I actually decide to hibernate this year, I mean, brown bears do it, why can't I?"

He quickly entered it, but Sylvia followed him and within seconds she was out again, dragging the male by his right leg.

"Because you and me are short-faced bears." She said a little upset.

Sidney, sighing, looked at Scrat, who he was holding, and had a brainwave.

"All right, Sylvia, I changed my mind." He told her, standing up "You can eat the squirrel."

"Really?" She asked incredulous.

"Yes! But only if you can find him." He replied, getting ready to throw Scrat in the air. The she-bear started shaking her tail and hopping; after all, she was raised by wolves.

"One…two…three!" Sidney exclaimed, and apparently made the throw. She ran away at full speed.

"I'm a genius!" He laughed, showing that he still had Scrat, and he just pretended to throw the rodent, so Sylvia would have never found him.

"We'd better split." He said, and ran away in the opposite direction, using only three legs to hold his friend with his right front paw.

* * *

A male American scimitar cat growled deeply as he stared at his brother. Both the cats had orange fur and hazel eyes, but the second one was less muscular.

From behind him, he heard voices.

"Soto!" A high voice called "I'm here, it's me, Keke!"

"I know." Soto hissed in reply.

"Jenny." Keke whispered "Tell him you're here."

"I'm here too, handsome!" A deeper voice yelled.

Two orange scimitar cats came into Soto's sight. Keke was short and skinny and Jenny was overweight and had low endurance. "Brother." A cat whispered gently.

"What is it, Diego?" Soto mused, using a kinder voice around his little brother.

"Do you get why those two are here?"

"I don't know. It's a miracle Keke even survived, being as small and useless as she is, and Jenny is so overweight and no help! Why couldn't any of the good females have survived the attack?" Soto sighed, upset.

"Can't they hear you?" Diego asked, feeling a little guilty about Keke and Jenny.

"No. Look at them." Soto growled, pointing at them as they were running in fear from a flying bug, and continued "We were one of the last chances to prevent scimitars' extinction, and we can't anymore. And it's all because the humans killed all our females, except the two who'd give us helpless small or overweight complaining cubs."

Diego flattened his ears.

"We're going to get revenge, right?"

"Yes, why wouldn't we?" Soto hissed.

"How, exactly?" Diego asked quietly.

"We're going to kidnap the chief's baby and kill it in front of him." Soto explained "He destroyed our chances to have cubs that would have saved our species, let's make him experience what we're going through."

"I like the sound of that." Diego smirked.

"Plus, it's the best we can do now that we can't afford too many casualties." The older male commanded, glancing over to Keke and Jenny playing with plants "Even though we all want certain cats to be in water."

"You're fat!" Keke shouted.

"Oh, well at least I don't look like an unhealthy squirrel!" Jenny hissed.

"Too far!" Keke gasped.

"Diego, can I trust you with bringing us the baby while we create a distraction?" Soto smiled.

"You can trust me." Diego grinned.

"Good." His brother smirked maliciously.

* * *

 **Author's note**

This story surely needs some explanation. I wanted it to be as realistic as possible, putting together real Ice Age animals, that lived in the same place at the same time.

About the time, in the final scene of the first movie, where Scrat ends up in a tropical island, it says "20,000 years later". I assumed that the scene was meant to take place in the present day, putting the rest of the film at 20,000 years ago.

The continent where most of the animal and plant species that featured in the movie could have met in real life is the North America, so I thought that the story should have took place there. The humans are the only absolutely necessary species, and the only places in North America where humans probably lived 20,000 years ago are Yukon and Alaska. Most of the fossil records I found online of animals of that part of the world are from Yukon, so I chose it as the location of the story.

I replaced:

\- the saber-toothed tiger with the scimitar cat because the former never reached Yukon or Alaska.

\- the ground sloth with the giant short-faced bear because, even if the former reached Yukon and Alaska, it went extinct there about 75,000 years ago.

\- the saber-toothed squirrel with the Arctic ground squirrel because the former is a fictional species.

I used:

\- the American badger because two fossils have been found, dating respectively 37,000 and 15,000 years ago. It is unknown whether it reached Yukon in two different moments (since both the dates represent times when the climate was warmer), or lived there from 37 to 15,000 years ago. In my opinion, since the badger is the only animal that could have preyed frequently on the Arctic ground squirrel, limitating its population, it inhabited Yukon in that time range.

\- the woolly mammoth, the steppe bison, the reindeer, the Yukon horse, the giant short-faced bear, the American scimitar cat and the Arctic ground squirrel because they inhabited Yukon 20,000 years ago.

Something that probably almost all films never cared about is what kind of social structure and mating system the animals had:

\- Mammoth bulls, like elephant bulls, were solitary, so Manny couldn't have been shocked by the death of his family. Instead, mammoth cows lived in large herds and raised the calves, so I thought the best thing to do was to make the character a female.

\- Sid had to be abandoned when he was a kid and Sylvia had to be raised by wolves because short-faced bears were, like modern bears, solitary and not monogamous. If you don't know who Sylvia is, she is a deleted character that was planned to appear in the first movie, as a female sloth who was in love with Sid.

\- Diego and Soto are the only males of the pack because scimitar cats likely had the same social structure of modern lions, with packs composed by few males, many females and cubs. About the other members of the pack that featured in the first movie, Oscar is absent, while Zeke and Lenny have been made females, Keke and Jenny, precisely.

I hope it gave clarity.

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 **This is the first chapter, I hope you enjoyed it!**

 **I really want to know what you think, and I'm open to suggestions, so please review.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's the second chapter, hope you enjoy! :D**

* * *

 **Review response**

 **StoogeMan: Thank you! Yeah, all this realism made the story a little confusing. By the way, I don't want to give too many details, but I think the baby will have the same importance he had in the first movie.**

 **ShiraxDiego: Thank you!**

 **Dinofelis: Well, I used the short-faced bear because it was the closest to the ground sloth in appearence , and plus recent studies suggest that it was omnivorous, like modern bears. About the scimitar cats, I assumed they had the same social structure as lions after learning that the remains of 32 scimitar cats (19 adults, including elders, and 13 cubs) have been found in a cave in Texas. Between the modern big cats, lions are the only ones with groups that can reach that number (but I know it is possible that the social structure of scimitar cats wasn't similar to the one of modern big cats at all).**

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Two male woolly rhinoceroses were circling around each other, ready to fight at any moment.

"That's enough, Frank." The shorter, brawnier and with darker hair one said "It's the third time in two months you enter my territory. If you want it, you have to fight."

"Don't you realize just by seeing me that you've no chance, Carl?" The taller, thinner and with lighter fur replied haughtily "I just wanted to talk this thing down, but I apparently need to get my horns dirty to make you get the hint."

"I'm shaking." Carl said ironically "I'd like to see what you're capable of."

A few feet away, Sidney was walking, taking Scrat by the scruff of his neck. The squirrel was irritated, he understood that the "carnivore" wasn't a threat, but he clearly didn't want to stay with him.

As soon as the bear noticed the rhinos, his jaw dropped, and the rodent fell to the ground. Groaning, he stood up, and his face lit up when he saw some flowers he could store for the winter.

All he stored before was lost, as his "savior" didn't notice Scrat had food with him, leaving it where the badger attacked him.

The squirrel ran towards them, but when he was just few inches away from them, Sidney grabbed him by his tail and put him on his back. Scrat sighed.

"There's no time to eat!" The bear exclaimed excited "Look at those two! I've never seen rhinos before!"

He ran to them, stopping right between Carl and Frank, just a few moments before they started fighting. They opened their eyes wide as soon as they saw him.

"Hello, I'm very glad to meet you! I'm Sid, short for Sidney, and let me say, you're even more awesome than I thought!"

Both the herbivores stared at him with an eyebrow raised, dismayed.

"I didn't think rhinos could come this far east! I've heard all about you. For example, I know you're not smart at all, and despite you're so big, you make ridiculous sounds!" Sid laughed.

They turned from confused to irritated, wanting to get back at the bear that didn't just interrupt them, but even made fun of their species.

Scrat noticed that Carl and Frank were all but happy, and started pinching up the skin of his back, trying to get his attention.

"Not now, Scrat, I have to remember another embarrassing thing about rhinos someone told me." The bear said, looking away from them.

Carl approached Frank "The one who kills him gets the territory, are you in?"

"Of course."

Sid stopped, having heard those words. He turned to them and started walking backwards, laughing nervously. However, the rhinos started walking, too, towards him.

"Well, we've clearly gotten off the wrong foot, didn't we? But I'm sure we can resolve this situation peacefully."

He stopped when he hit a rock face, realizing he was trapped.

"Uh-oh."

Carl and Frank, a few feet away from him, grinned.

"It was fun while it lasted." Sid sighed "Scrat, run before it's too late!"

The squirrel didn't do anything, he was frozen in fear.

Both closed their eyes, hoping that their end would have been as quick and painless as possible.

"Charge!" Carl and Frank screamed in unison, but before they could run towards them, they were interrupted by a loud trumpeting.

All four turned to see a huge female woolly mammoth.

"Stay away from the bear!" She exclaimed angrily.

"How about you mind your own business?" Frank asked, annoyed.

"Yeah, lady, what's your problem?" Carl continued.

"I don't like animals that kill for sport." The mammoth growled.

"Oh, please, we're just doing you a favor." The taller rhino replied.

"What if those bears start hunting in packs? Even you'd be in danger." The shorter one added.

"This ain't gonna happen." She said.

"Actually, I'd really like bears to be social." Sid explained.

"You're not helping." She scolded him.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Frank whispered to Carl.

"The one who knocks her down takes the territory." He answered.

"Exactly."

Then, both ran away, leaving the three mammals confused.

"Well, thank you so much." Sid smiled.

"You're welcome" The mammoth said.

All of a sudden, though, Scrat made a loud warning call. The other two turned to the direction in which the rhinos went, only to see that they were now running to them. They just got a running start.

Sid screamed and ran behind the pachyderm, still with the squirrel on his back.

The mammoth looked at Carl and Frank, preparing to face them.

When they reached her, she was able to block them with her tusks. With a quick motion, she moved her tusks under the rhinos' heads and then under their chest, lifting the front half of their bodies and pushing them a few feet away.

But they weren't going to give up so easily. Frank was the first one to get up and ran towards the mammoth, but she avoided the impact, and then hit his side, sending him against the rock face.

Then, she noticed by the corner of her eye that Carl got up too and was now about to spear her belly with his horn. But she did something really unexpected, standing on two legs. When the rhino realized it, he tried to stop, but ended up just under her, who pushed him against the rock face with her front legs.

The mammoth looked at them to ensure that they were unconscious, and started walking away.

"Hey, wait a minute." Sid told her, noticing that she was leaving "That was amazing! You saved my life, and I couldn't even thank you properly. "

"That's not necessary, just go before they wake up." She replied coldly.

"Come on, what's with all the grumpiness?" He asked, and then realized "Oh, right, mammoth cows live in herds, and I saw them migrating a few hours ago…are you an outcast?"

The mammoth started acting like she did when the horses mentioned "the other mammoths", so she picked up the pace. However, it wasn't hard for the bear to keep up with her.

"All right, I get it, you don't wanna talk about it, no prob. Let's change the subject…my name's Sidney, but you can call me Sid, and my friend here is Scrat." The squirrel waved "What's your name?"

"Mildred." She sighed "Now that I've told you, beat it."

"Well, Milly, I-" The bear stopped talking and recoiled, scared, when the mammoth approached him menacingly.

"Don't call me that." She ordered angrily.

"By the way, I see you're not migrating, how do you expect to survive?" Sid asked, curious, not seeing that Scrat was stealthily walking away.

"With my tusks, I can scrape the snow, even very deep, and find all the food I want." Mildred explained.

"Great!" Sid exclaimed "Guess that means I can spend the winter here too, you know, I'm a vegetarian."

She rolled her eyes and groaned, but her "new friend" didn't notice it.

When the squirrel heard it, he smiled, realizing that staying with those two would have allowed him to find food and at the same time to be safe from the predators. He quickly reached Sid and jumped back on him.

They just kept walking, while the sun was going down.

Not far away, Carl and Frank woke and got back up. They screamed when their eyes fell on their snouts.

"My horn!" They rhinos yelled in unison. Both had lost a very large part of their bigger horn because of the impact with the rock, but the smaller one was luckily intact.

"It'll take years for it to grow back!" Frank cried.

" _If_ it'll grow back." Carl added angrily, and after a few seconds, he added "She has to pay."

"You're thinking about getting revenge, aren't you?" The taller rhino asked interested.

"Yes, I don't know how, or when, but she's gonna regret this." The shorter one growled.

"Whatever you're planning, you can count on me." Frank smirked.

* * *

Soto growled as he gazed upon the human's camp in the distance. He could see smoke rising from the fires built in the scimitar-hide teepees they used as houses.

"Unbelievable." Soto snarled.

"I know," Diego stated angrily "how can they possibly think they could get away with killing our females?"

"You know, I'm still here." Keke smiled, brushing Diego and Soto's shoulders gently. "We can repopulate."

"No!" Jenny shouted. "They don't want a runt like you with cubs. They want me."

"Really?" The thin cat hissed. "That fat must really be getting to your brain!"

"Ungrateful yapper!" Jenny exclaimed.

"Stop!" Soto ordered.

Keke and Jenny stopped, fluttering their eyes in surprise.

"We're going to the humans, got it?" Soto scowled at the female cats.

"Right now?" The fat cat sighed. "But it's not even lunch time."

"Yeah, my paws hurt." The runt of the pack added.

"Not right now!" Their alpha roared. "Soon, though."

"Can we not attack them?" Keke suggested hopefully.

"I agree. What's the point?" Jenny questioned.

"You see, Diego is the cat I trust the most." Soto glanced at Keke and Jenny, disgusted. "Clearly. Anyway, we'll create a distraction, like stealing their supplies, and knowing these pesky humans, they'll notice right away. We can't risk our lives with attacking. Diego will sneak in the chief's teepee, and steal chief's cub."

"Why would the chief care?" Jenny asked.

"Well, humans are attached to their young, like almost any species." Soto stared back at the camp. "However, strangely enough, both the males and females care an unbelievable amount, which is pretty rare. They'd go great lengths for one cub."

"That sounds perfect! Can we live there?" Keke nudged Jenny away from Diego.

"Numb skull." Soto whispered.

"Are you prepared?" Diego asked them.

"I think so." Jenny replied "However, Keke might need more information. Usually smaller animals are less intelligent."

"How dare you-" The other female started.

"Enough of your pointless bickering." Soto demanded. "We'll attack tomorrow, at dawn."

* * *

 **Author's note**

There is something I should say about Carl and Frank. The woolly rhino never reached Alaska, Yukon, or the North America in general, but it, during the end of the ice age, reached parts of the Russian Far East that are about less than 2,000 kilometers (a bit more than 1,000 miles) far away from Alaska. Since, at that time, Asia and North America were linked by a land bridge, it is possible that rhinos crossed it and reached Alaska and Yukon (like humans, mammoths, scimitar cats and several other species did), also because the climate, the vegetation and the predators were basically the same, and that the fossils just haven't been found yet.

Anyway, I made them cooperating enemies and not friends because rhinos are solitary.

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 **Review! I'm open to any constructive criticism or suggestion.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello! :D**

 **I'm sorry I haven't updated this story for a month, but I couldn't make a decision about some changes I might have had to do.**

 **By the way, the length of this chapter is about half the previous ones', and the next chapters will be that too, so that I will be able to publish them more often.**

* * *

Inside a teepee of the human village, the baby looked up sweetly at his parents. His mother sat down, as the teepee covered their heads. His father picked up him out of his "bed" and placed him on the ground. Then, he put his hands in his and attempted to get his son to walk. Of course, the baby walked nearly perfectly with his help, and his mother cheered him. The man repeated this action again, and sat him at the other side of the teepee, standing up him up. His father went to the other side, and held his hands out for him. Before anything could happen, the man heard commotion and dashed out of the teepee. His wife watched him leave, slightly worried.

Soto, Jenny, and Keke had selected the largest bison out of the humans' hunted animals, and were standing behind a rock, watching the humans from afar.

Jenny was eating the corpse nosily.

"Do you think he's got the baby?" Keke asked.

"Shut up!" Soto whispered.

Diego sneaked into the teepee with ease. The baby was placed in his bed, looking straight at the cat with curious eyes. Diego growled, approaching the baby, before getting hit harshly in his head. Diego roared with pain, seeing it was the mother of the baby, that threw a big rock at him. She quickly grabbed her son, taking off out of the teepee as fast as she could.

Diego raced after her, running more slowly than usual, because of his head that spin and still hurt. The woman strove to call for help, but the human village was empty, as all the men had gone to see that their largest bison was stolen.

Diego picked up the pace and was finally close enough to jump on her, but when he did it, she turned and hit him with another rock, that the cat hadn't noticed before. He fell on the ground having no time to react.

She started running again, entering an area with tall grass. She knew that her chaser wouldn't have been out for a long time and that the fact that her son and she were still alive was basically just luck.

As soon as she came out of that area, she found out that she was in front of a river, and she figured out what to do: cross it to hide her smell, hoping that the scimitar cat would have given up on chasing them. But when she was about to get into the water, she heard a rusting in the grass and then a growl.

She turned to see Diego, who was slowly approaching her, knowing that she had no ways to escape this time. His head was even bleeding because of the blow he received; this made him even more angry.

The woman knew it was the end of her, but after looking at her son that stared at her scared, she became sure she wasn't going to let anything happen to him.

She noticed that there was a basket, that her tribe used for the fish caught, next to her. As soon as the predator jumped on her, she got on the ground and put the baby in the basket, pushing it towards the shore. Then, Diego ended her life.

The scimitar cat realized too late what actually happened. He even entered the river, but immediately realized that the basket had reached the rapids. He would have risked his life if he tried to swim there. So, he growled in anger and came out of the water.

When he turned, he noticed that Soto, Keke and Jenny were running towards him.

"Did you kill it?" Keke asked as soon as she reached him.

"Oh, more food for me!" Jenny exclaimed happily, looking at Nadia.

"Stop!" Soto growled, and then approached his brother "We were forced to fall back, have you taken the baby?"

Diego didn't say anything, trying not to make eye contact with Soto.

"Diego?" He asked impatiently.

"I-I lost it." He admitted "She was able to put it in one of those things they use to carry the fish, and pulled it in the river."

"You had just one thing to do!" The older scimitar exclaimed roared "You disappointed me, brother, being hurt by a weak human."

"But he killed the mother!" Keke told him.

"Yeah, isn't that enough?" Jenny added.

"No!" Soto roared "Do you know what the chief will do when he'll find out what happened to his wife? He'll be even more determined to find his son, and if he does, he'll raise him just as she'd have wanted."

Diego nodded in agreement, while Keke and Jenny simply stared at him disinterested.

"So, our revenge won't be complete until we get our paws on the baby and destroy the chief's full family in front of him, just like he did to us."

"We'd better move, then, the basket is almost out of sight." Diego pointed out, looking in the distance.

"Oh, no, it was your task to take the baby, and I'll suggest you to complete it, unless you wanna come to a bad end." The older male growled.

"Are you s-saying t-that-" Keke muttered, shivering with Jenny.

"Yeah," He interrupted her, and turned to his brother menacingly "On other occasions, I wouldn't do this, but if you ruin my revenge, well, let's just say the humans will have one more skin to wear."

Diego stared at him without saying anything and ran away, following the riverbed. Then, Soto and the two females left, disappearing in the tall grass.

After a few seconds, the tribe got there. The chief, shocked to see what happened to his wife, kneeled next to her corpse and started crying.

One of the other men put his hand on his shoulder and said something that was clearly about getting revenge on the scimitar pack.

However, the man shook his head. Unlike Soto, he knew that as much as losing her and presumably her son too really hurt, the best thing to do for the good of the tribe was to let the cats win.

He took her necklace in her memory and slowly started walking back to the camp, followed by the other humans.

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 **I hope you liked it!**

 **Fave and follow, if you haven't already, and please review, the feedback is essential for me.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello! :D**

 **Here's the new chapter, I hope you like it!**

* * *

On the bank of the same river, Milly, Sid and Scrat were drinking. The bear was making a lot of noise, and this was clearly bothering the other two.

"Keep it down!" The mammoth suddenly snapped, scaring Sid who jumped in surprise.

"Okay, okay." He apologized.

"If you kept doing that for a few more moments , the whole south would have come here to tell you to-" She suddenly interrupted, spotting something in the river.

Sid and Scrat, confused by her acting, looked at the water to see what she saw and opened their eyes wide.

"T-That is…" Milly muttered.

"A human cub!" Sid exclaimed.

Immediately, he jumped into the water and ran towards the basket the baby was in, grabbed it just in time and got back to the ground, panting.

The baby chuckled as he noticed the three mammals looking at him.

"Luckily he…or she's okay," The bear said.

"It's a boy." The mammoth affirmed.

"How do you know?" He asked confused.

"It doesn't matter." She replied "By the way, leave him here, humans are nothing but trouble."

Then, Milly walked away.

"What?" Sid exclaimed, and even Scrat was surprised by what she was doing.

"Come on, we have to save him!" He continued, but the mammoth didn't care.

He carried the basket with his mouth, let Scrat get on his back and followed her.

Hidden in the grass, Diego was spying on them.

"Hmm, strange couple." He whispered "I need to find a way to take the baby from them."

"How can I convince you to help me to reunite him with his herd?" Sid asked Milly after putting the basket on the ground.

The mammoth suddenly stopped, and smirked.

"I'll do it if you promise me that you and your snack-friend will go on your own way after that."

"Ugh, fine." Sid said sadly, he was really enjoying her company.

"But take him with your trunk, I wouldn't be able to do it with my mouth and talk at the same time." The bear explained, and started walking.

Milly looked at the baby in a weird way, she was hesitant in grabbing the basket, but after a few moments she did it.

"Why does everything bad keep happening to me?" She sighed, shaking her head, and followed the bear.

"Don't worry, I think I know where the human camp is, it'll take us no time!" He told her happily.

* * *

"They left, didn't they?" Milly said annoyed, in the middle of the camp.

"I'm afraid so." Sid, next to her, laughed nervously.

In the meantime, the baby had come out of the basket and was hugging Scrat, against the rodent's will, who was trying to slip out unsuccessfully.

"Great, what do we do now?" The bear asked.

"Perhaps I can help you." A voice behind them spoke, surprising them.

When they turned, they saw Diego.

Milly growled, Sid took several steps back and Scrat hid behind the baby.

"Go right ahead." She said menacingly.

"Listen, I know you want to take the baby to his herd, but it left, and is now heading Glacier Pass." Diego explained.

"So?" Milly questioned, not trusting the scimitar.

"So, you have two choices, raising this human cub, after all you can't have one of your own," He joked, making the mammoth growl again "or heading the Glacier Pass too, hoping to reach the humans before it's closed by the snow."

"And I suppose you want us to give you the baby so that you can do it instead of us? Yeah, as I'd believe you." She mocked him.

"Oh, no, I know you wouldn't." Diego replied.

"Then what do you want?" Milly asked.

"Well, do you really think the bear who never ate something bigger than a leaf could guide you?" He questioned.

"How do you know I'm a vegetarian?" Sid said, confused and scared.

"First of all, you've a squirrel on your back, and plus, we scimitars know everything about our possible competitors for food." The carnivore told him, continuing "You need a tracker, me."

"Pff, Milly won't let you be near us just one more second." The bear affirmed with confidence "Right, Milly?"

"He'll help us." She ordered.

"Are you kidding?!" He snapped shocked.

"I'm willing to anything to get rid of you." The mammoth replied.

"A wise decision, fatty." The scimitar joked.

"I'm not fat! It's all this fur that makes me look poofy." She affirmed.

"Anyway, we've a long journey ahead of us, I need to eat and I don't think you want to see it, I'll be back as quickly as possible." Diego explained, lying to have a way to meet his pack, and, after getting a nod from Milly, he left.

* * *

Back at the scimitar den, Soto was walking back and forth impatiently.

"Soto!" Diego's voice shut him out of his thoughts.

"No baby, no life." He hissed after noticing that his little brother didn't take him.

"Wait, I have the baby, kinda." He replied.

"What do you mean?" Soto questioned angrily, while Keke and Jenny approached them.

"A mammoth cow and a short-faced bear boar found the baby and wanted to reunite him with his tribe, I'd have gotten killed if I tried to steal him."

"A mammoth cow and a bear boar? Together?" Soto asked incredulous.

"Pretty strange." Keke added.

"I convinced them to make me their tracker, I'll lead them to the Half Peak where you'll be lurking, so that we'll get the baby and at the same time fresh meat." Diego explained.

"That's a plan!" Jenny exclaimed happily at the thought of eating.

"There's just one hitch." The older male replied "We four can't kill a mammoth and a bear."

"We can, the bear is the vegetarian we've heard about, he'll ran away as soon as he sees us." The younger one said.

"Perfect, you're showing me that I did well to form a coalition with you, brother." Soto told him, and turning to the females, ordered "Now, let's go!"

The three scimitars quickly left.

"Soon, all the members of that outcast gang will have the fate they deserve." Diego smirked before leaving too.

* * *

 **As always, please review, it would really help me to improve this story.**

 **See you in chapter 5! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi, r** **eady for chapter five?**

 **It is longer than the others, as it includes a fight. Enjoy! :D**

* * *

Diego was in deep thought. He finally tried to speak to Milly and Sid, but he was interrupted by the baby's strange noises. The noise woke Scrat up, causing him fall off of Sid's back, startled. Scrat reached out for Sid's side, but didn't catch his fur in time. Sid stopped, along with Diego and Milly and Scrat decided to stay on the ground rather than be on Sid's back with the screeching mammal.

"What's that horrible noise?" Diego demanded.

"I... I think he's... crying? Maybe for his mother?" Sid guessed. "Milly, Diego, have you ever had experience with calves or cubs?"

"What does that have to do with the little squealer on your back?" Diego remarked angrily, distracting the mammoth from her toughts, that were making her start wheezing again, and then decided to lie about his story "I was an outcast. Nobody liked me. My brother gave me a few wives out of pity, but they were killed."

Milly and Sid looked at the cat sympathetically.

"Anyway, how does having cubs help?" Diego asked.

"If you have, you could tell us how to stop this noise!" Sid yelled over the baby's crying.

"Cubs don't make that sound!" Diego told Sid. "Maybe he's trying to scare us?"

"If so, it's working!" Sid admitted.

"Or maybe he wants to play like cubs do." Diego thought.

"How do humans play?" Sid asked Diego.

"I thought I saw a cub human do this," Diego mentioned, using his paws to cover his eyes and say the word "peekaboo" when he removed them.

"Try it." Milly suggested.

Diego repeated what he showed Sid, and the baby looked at him curiously for a second, before bursting back into tears.

"That wasn't it." Sid sighed.

"Perhaps he's hungry." Milly assumed.

"So am I." Sid confessed.

Milly glanced at Diego. "Cat, do you know what humans eat?"

"My name is Diego, not 'Cat'," Diego growled under his breath, "and all I know is that they do eat meat."

Sid looked at Scrat hopefully. "Do you know what they eat?"

The rodent shook his head.

Milly glowered at Diego and Sid. "Let's try roots before... meat."

Sid beamed, jumping up and down, making the baby stop the crying for a moment to focus. "I know where to go!"

"Where?" Milly asked in an unenthusiastic voice.

"The peccaries!" Sid shouted. "Their land is full of roots!"

"Aren't peccaries extinct?" Diego questioned.

"Not yet," Milly sighed, "I don't know how they aren't though."

"Let's go!" Sid called to Milly and Diego as he ran north. Scrat followed.

"You chose him to be your mate?" Diego teased, sarcastically.

Milly growled. "He's not my mate! Or my friend!"

* * *

The peccary land wasn't very far from where they had been. The ground was mostly covered with snow, but the parts that weren't had rich soil, and plants growing out of them.

"Where are the peccaries?" Diego asked Sid.

Sid shook his head. "I don't know if they even live here, I just heard stories from my friend, Sylvia," Sid swallowed hard as he said her name, "she was attacked by them."

"You never saw them?" Milly inquired.

"No, I never saw them when I went through here." Sid stated.

Just as Sid uttered the last word of that sentence, the peccaries rushed over to them.

Sid stumbled slightly, staring at the hundreds of flat-headed peccaries snorting and shaking flies off of themselves.

"You're really helpful," Milly snarled at Sid.

"I didn't know what peccaries smelt like," Sid weakly replied, clearly hurt.

A peccary, slightly bigger than the others, stepped forward, proudly. "I'm Dab."

"Dab?" Diego repeated. "Wow, your mother must have hated you."

Dab rubbed his tusks together, making a strange clicking-chattering noise. Diego was vaguely startled, and hissed back at the peccary.

"Don't you dare threaten me!" Dab yelled.

Diego huffed. "You just threatened me!"

"What are you here for?" Dab aggressively demanded, stomping his hoof.

"To kick your-" Diego started, before Milly hit his neck with her tusk, quieting him.

"Roots." Milly stated.

The peccaries whispered among themselves, before Dab snorted. "We demand you leave or else."

"Or else what?" Diego challenged.

"We're going to die," Sid whispered to Scrat. Sid was holding Scrat closely in a bear hug. Scrat was attempting to scramble away, but Sid didn't notice.

"Would you knock it off?" Milly shouted at the cat. "I'm regretting accepting your offer."

"Or else we're going to maul you." Dab replied, with no empathy in his voice.

Sid whimpered slightly, and Scrat sighed, knowing he wouldn't be able to get out of the bear's grasp. Sid took the basket with the baby in it and hid it in a nearby bush without Milly, Diego, or the peccaries noticing.

Dab clicked his tusks again. "What will it be?"

"We're not going to bow down to peccaries." Diego yelled.

"That's fine with us." Dab answered.

Dab and the peccaries dug their hooves into the dirt, kicking back and getting ready to charge at the mammoth, bear, and cat, but they were suddenly distracted with a shout.

"Wait!" Sid insisted. "Can't we just talk about this? It's a huge misunderstanding!"

Milly nudged the bear with her tusk and whispered in his ear. "They're not going to back down, just run. It's your only chance at survival."

Sid looked at the peccaries for a moment, then at Milly. She nodded at him, encouraging him to go, and Sid took off running. His startling motion set off the peccaries to charge toward Milly and Diego, a few of them even following Sid.

Milly could barely keep up with the peccaries, so many of them came charging. All Milly could see was several different shades of brown flying towards her, some ramming into her sides. She growled as she flung them when she was able to shovel a few into her tusks. The thrown peccaries would knock into others, but the uninjured ones wouldn't give up and kept coming at her.

Diego clawed at them, usually attempting to stay on a peccary's back as he scratched the others with ease, but Diego was rammed into by Dab, who stood over him as the peccaries rushed toward Milly. Diego scratched over Dab's face, and kicked at the peccary's underbelly, which was an attack move Diego knew well. Diego was able to get unpinned and he tried to go for the peccary's throat. Diego strove to pounce, however he was cut off by peccaries racing in front of him, running from Milly.

As Sid ran, a peccary managed to scrape Sid's back paw. Sid whimpered with pain as he continued scurrying, Scrat digging his claws into his back to hold on. A peccary was being unusually silent compared to the rest, trying to remain quiet to get rid of the bear without much struggle. Scrat noticed this, and a deep feeling inside him didn't want the bear to be killed. Scrat looked sympathetically at the bear for a moment as he waited for the peccary to be in his reach. Sid was beginning to get slower as his paw ached more and he got more tired.

As the peccary was about to stick his tusks into Sid's side, Scrat let out a deep call and pounced on the peccary. The squirrel had only fought once. He remembered back to mating season when he had attacked other males. Scrat clawed at the peccary, as the peccary tried to desperately shake him off. Scrat's claw slipped from the shaking, and clawed the peccary's eye, making the peccary squeal and run away from Sid. Sid caught Scrat on his snout. The squirrel climbed back onto Sid's back, burying himself in his fur as if it were grass he were trying to hide in.

"T-Thank you," Sid stuttered as he stopped to return to Milly.

Milly stomped on the ground, which made some peccaries flee from the shaking, and those who didn't flee, stopped and stared. Milly shoved the front peccaries into other peccaries, knocking some of them completely out. Most of the peccaries had either fled or were on the ground injured. Milly glared at all of the peccaries' bodies. Sid returned to Milly, hiding behind her.

"You're still here?" Milly looked at Sid, surprised.

"Y-yes." Sid replied, shakily.

Milly stepped toward the bear, gently nudging him with her tusk. "It's okay, most of the peccaries are just passed out. Hardly any of them ran away or died."

Sid nodded, still shaking. A sudden roar caused Milly and Sid to look in the direction of Diego.

"Are you okay, kitty?" Milly yelled.

Diego panted as he returned into their sight. "Yeah, Milly, I'm fine. I just ate."

"Mildred." Milly corrected.

"Where's the baby?" Diego asked.

"I set him in a bush." Sid responded.

"A bush?" Milly and Diego repeated.

"Yeah, I bet he's fine." Sid added, running over to a bush.

Sid retrieved the baby, showing him to Milly and Diego.

"Why wasn't it crying?" Diego asked Sid.

"Maybe humans like watching fights?" Milly suggested.

"No, I bet he was just startled." Sid responded.

Sid nudged Milly, and Milly walked forward to see the plants. Diego stared at them.

"How do you herbivores eat... that?" Diego asked.

Milly glared at him, but didn't respond. Sid began digging, until he found the roots. Sid put the baby on his back and gave him the roots as he happily ate. Diego snarled and bared his fangs at the baby. All the baby did was clap his hands together.

"It's not scared of me?" Diego realized.

"Humans are full of surprises." Milly confessed.

Sid smiled. "And have no fur, which is strange."

"Yeah," Diego agreed. "They're... pink."

"Pinky." Sid replied. "We should name him that!"

"Whatever." Diego sighed.

Pinky clapped his hands as he stared up at the bear.

* * *

 **Notes**

If you haven't figured it out, the peccaries are the replacement for the dodos.

Since I found no records of terrestrial birds living in Yukon, Alaska or Russian Far East near the end of the ice age, I decided to use the flat-headed peccary as it wasn't a smart animal and lived in large groups, that could count even several hundreds of individuals, so it was very similar to the dodos in the first movie.

Adding flat-headed peccaries to this story, though, is not completely correct: the only peccary fossil found in Yukon has never been dated, but scientists believe that this mammal lived there only during the warm (interglacial) period, between 125,000 and 75,000 years ago, long before the time when my story takes place. However, as long as it remains unconfirmed, I think is okay to have flat-headed peccaries in this story.

Plus, if you don't know, "Dab", that in this story is the name of the herd's leader, is also the name of the dodo that spotted Manny, Sid, Diego and Roshan and, yelling "Intruders!" ended up in a smouldering pit and got burned.

* * *

 **What happens next? Stay tuned to find out! :)**

 **And don't forget to review!**


	6. Another question

**Hello, as you may have guessed, this is not a chapter.**

 **I really didn't want to interrupt the story again with another question about the species I used for this story, I know most of you don't care much. But there's a problem.**

 **The first websites I visited to know which animals lived in Yukon (and consequently in Alaska) 20,000 years ago claimed that the scimitar cat (Soto, Diego, Keke and Jenny's species) was still present, but about to go extinct. But doing further research recently, I found out that it is uncorrect, as fossils with precise dating show that the last scimitar cats went extinct in Yukon (and Alaska) about 40,000 years ago. So, I would need to make Diego and his pack another cat species.**

 **I could use the cave lion, that was present in Yukon 20,000 years ago, but there would be important changes to do.**

 **Cave lions probably lived in all-male and all-female groups, something that modern Asiatic lions do, because they prey on smaller species compared to the African ones. Cave lions ate smaller animals too, since their main preys were reindeer and bear cubs. For this reason, I would have to reuse Zeke and Lenny instead of Keke and Jenny.**

 **And I would also have to change the reason for which they want revenge on the humans; cave lions were common in Yukon, they even survived there until 10,000 years ago, so the whole "Diego and Soto's species is going extinct because of the humans" thing should be cut. They would just kill the baby to avenge the deaths of other males in their group (basically like the first movie).**

 **Are you okay with these changes? Or would you rather have me get this over and continue the story just like it is now?**

 **Thanks in advance, and I'm sorry for not updating this story yet.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello! :)**

 **Ready for the next chapter? I know it has been a while since I updated, but I tried to find more information about the time scimitar cats inhabited Yukon and Alaska, to decide whether to turn Diego and his pack to cave lions or not.**

 **And I decided not to. The websites I checked were correct about the time the other mammals lived there, so why should they be wrong only about scimitar cats?**

 **Enjoy! :D**

* * *

After the peccary fight, Sid's back paw ached even more. Sid had placed the baby onto Milly's back, as he had been putting too much weight on his paw.

"Can't we stop for a little while?" Sid asked.

"No, do we want to get this cub to his father or not?" Diego hissed.

"My paw really hurts though." Sid whimpered.

"Ask your mate." Diego teased.

Sid turned to Milly with concerned eyes. "Please?"

"I'm not your mate!" Milly snarled.

Sid winced as a pain shot through his paw. "I'll stop bothering you for a while if we stop."

Milly sighed. "Fine, let's stop."

"Thank you, Milly!" Sid smiled.

"Mildred." Milly corrected. "Now stop annoying me like you promised."

A female cougar raised her head at the sight of Milly, Diego, and Sid walking towards her.

She immediately darted into the bushes, scared of three threats approaching her.

"Wait!" Sid called out. "I'm not here to hurt you! We can be friends!" Sid raced after her, even on his bad paw. Scrat growled as he hung onto Sid's fur.

"He's going to get himself killed." Diego sighed.

"I'm going to go after him. It would be interesting to see that pretty cougar maul that bear easily."

"Whatever." Milly replied, watching Diego run through the bushes after the cougar, Sid, and Scrat.

Milly rolled her eyes as she realized she had been left with the baby. "Seriously?" Milly growled to herself.

The baby looked at her with his surprised brown eyes as she took him out of the basket on her back and held him to face her. He pet her fur on her face curiously and giggled, giving her a interested look.

"What?" Milly hissed. "I'm sure you've felt fur before." The baby smiled brightly.

Milly snorted. "Really? You think you're cute, don't you?"

The baby wrapped his hands around her face and Milly sighed.

"You really don't mean harm, do you?"

He only cooed in response.

Milly nodded. "I have to admit, you humans are full of surprises. You are as fascinating as you are... dangerous." Her voice wavered a little, but she growled herself back to reality as Diego and Sid returned faster than she predicted.

"Didn't catch her, did you?" Milly inquired.

Sid shook his head sadly. "Nope, I guess she didn't want to be my friend."

Diego snorted. "You think?"

* * *

The night had come, and the group decided to stop heading north and rest in a large ground depression, that had probably been a watering hole several thousand years before.

When Milly had finally managed to lie her huge body down, Sid reached her, with the baby already asleep, and Scrat, on his back.

"Milly, you should wrap him with your trunk, he'll be warm and safe." The bear explained. "

No way." She stated "I've spent enough time with the little guy, you don't want to know where he pulled my fur out."

"Come on, I could accidentally crush him if I hold him in my paws." He replied "And I don't think it'd be a good idea to have him sleep with Diego."

"True…" She reflected.

"Oh, do you really think I would eat the squirt if I wanted a bedtime snack? I'd rather choose something…" Diego paused and turned towards Sid, continuing menacingly "bigger."

Sid gulped and took several steps back, looking at the scary eyes of the carnivore that glowed in the dark.

"You see what I'm saying?" The bear told Milly.

"Ugh, fine." She sighed, standing up and walking towards the baby.

The mammoth lifted him and put him on the ground. Then, she lied down again and wrapped him with her trunk.

The baby, while sleeping, curled up on the pachyderm's fur.

"Aww." Sid said, looking at the sweet scene.

"Do it one more time and your neck will take the baby's place." Milly growled.

"All right," Sid laughed tensely "I'll go sleep before someone else threatens my life. Good night!"

Sid lied on the ground and closed his eyes. Scrat did the same on his friend's fur after finding a balance.

Milly was about to close her eyes too when she noticed that Diego was moving away.

"Where are you going?" She asked suspicious.

"Well, hunting is a lot more fun if the prey can't even see you while you're ripping it apart." The cat answered.

"Spare me the details." She sighed, and closed her eyes.

Then, Diego left.

* * *

"Why the hell do we have to follow those freaks even at night?" Frank, walking with Carl, complained.

"You spend so much time whining you don't realize even the most obvious things." He replied annoyed.

"They surely stopped to sleep, why can't we just do the same?" The taller rhino questioned.

"Unlike mammoths and short-faced bears, we rhinos have low migration ability, we can't keep up with them if we only travel during the day." The shorter one answered, rolling his eyes.

"Okay, but-" Frank added before being cut down.

"Shut up." Carl suddenly said, smelling the air, and whispered "Follow me, they're close."

He started moving towards a different direction, and his conspecific quickly followed him. They stopped right on the side of the ground depression where Milly, Sid, Scrat and, unknown to them, Roshan, were sleeping.

"There they are." Carl smiled maliciously.

"I really want to know what it feels like to maul a mammoth." Frank smirked.

The stockier rhino was about to say something else, but someone clearing his throat behind them caught his attention.

When the two rhinos turned, they saw Diego.

"What do you want?" Carl asked aggressively.

"You must be the dumb one of your pack if you think you can even get close to us without a hole in your belly." Frank continued.

"Yeah, like I was supposed to be afraid of rhinos lacking their bigger horns." Diego couldn't resist the temptation to make fun of them.

The two pachyderms growled at him.

"Relax, I just want to talk." The scimitar cat explained "It seems that we have a common goal."

"I'm listening." Carl replied.

"Well, long story short, the mammoth, the bear and the squirrel are currently heading the Glacier Pass to reunite the human baby they carry with his father. I'm travelling with them, but I'm just pretending to be their tracker; as soon as we reach Half Peak my pack will come out of the closer to kill the mammoth."

"And this has to do with us?" Frank questioned.

"The bear told me everything about how you got wrecked by the mammoth, and I assume you want to kill her. But let's be honest, a rhino can't be stealthy, and if you wake her up now, it'd would be the end of you. At the same time, we're just four In my pack, we could be able to kill her, but it's very risky."

Carl and Frank started smirking, understanding what he was planning.

"I guess you got the point. My pack is already at Half Peak, go there and tell the only male, Soto, that his brother Diego sent you." He explained.

"No mammoth would stand a chance against two rhinos and four scimitars." Carl affirmed.

"Exactly, you'll get revenge, and we'll get the food." Diego replied.

"Nice plan, it'll be a pleasure for us working with you." Frank told him.

"Me too." The cat said.

A few seconds later, the rhinos left, heading Half Peak, and Diego, after briefly looking at them, got back to his sleeping travelling companions.

* * *

"Get up!" Milly demanded.

Diego yawned and stretched, finally awake. "What is it?"

"Where's the baby?" Milly hissed.

Diego looked around their small area, seeing that the baby clearly wasn't anywhere to be found. "I don't have it,"

Milly sighed angrily. "Sid!" Diego and her called.

Sid had gone out in search of food, with the baby in his basket wobbling on his back along with a glaring Scrat. Scrat tried to stay as far away from the baby without accidentally tumbling off of Sid's back.

"I need berries," Sid told Scrat and the baby, "do you think other bears would welcome me with them?"

Scrat dug his claws into Sid's back, telling the bear he didn't like that idea.

"I'm guessing you don't like bears." Sid inferred. "But I haven't met one other than Sylvia, so I should give it a try!"

Scrat dug his claws into Sid's back more aggressively.

"Ow! Stop it!" Sid yelled.

"Sidney?" A voice asked.

"Huh?" Sid turned around to where he heard the voice. "Smells like a familiar wolf? But wolves don't speak my language."

Sylvia stumbled into Sid's view and gasped. She came running toward him and Sid attempted to get away, but he was too late. Sylvia had caught him in a nuzzle. Scrat buried himself in Sid's fur as Sylvia licked Sid's face like a wolf.

"Sidney! You have no idea how happy I am to see you!" Sylvia smiled.

Sid gulped. "Hi..."

Sylvia looked at Sid's back with confusion. "I know you still have the squirrel, but what's that strange scent?"

"Oh, a human." Sid explained.

Sylvia went to Sid's side to take a look at the baby, who had fallen asleep next to the rodent playing dead.

"Please don't eat him!" Sid shrieked as he covered his eyes with his paws.

Sylvia tilted her head and looked at Sid with confused eyes. "Why not?"

"He's... he's my friend." Sid replied, uncovering his eyes.

Sylvia glanced at Sid and then back at the baby and rodent. "Both of them?"

"Yes!"

Sylvia smiled briefly. "You didn't need to lie to your beautiful soul mate about this weird obsession! You can tell me anything, Sidney."

Sid looked down at his paws, guiltily. "No, because you still want to eat them."

"I do," Sylvia admitted, "but I won't if you don't want me to."

Suddenly, both Sylvia and Sid picked up a strange scent.

"Is that a bear?" Sid asked Sylvia.

"I believe so."

The bear scent got closer faster and faster.

"Run Sid," Sylvia growled.

"What? Why?" Sid questioned.

In seconds two young male bear cubs approached Sylvia and Sid with big bright eyes. Sylvia snarled, and the bear cubs took offense to it, calling out to their mother bear.

"Wait, we're nice! I promise!" Sid told them.

The two bears looked at Sid strangely.

"Mother, we found food!" The smaller one shouted.

Sid shivered, not sure if the cub was talking about him or Scrat.

"Sid-" Sylvia started before a mother bear ran and tackled her, making her fall on her back. "Run Sidney! Hide! I'll protect you!"

Sid jumped, running to the nearest bush. The baby was now fully awake, and holding on to Scrat, who still refused to stop playing dead.

The mother bear roared, but Sylvia did the same and scratched her claws on her stomach. The mother clawed at Sylvia's eyes, but missed. Sylvia managed to tumble out of the bear's grasp, but she didn't run. She growled and returned to the mother bear. Sylvia bit the mother bear's back ankle, but the mother bear returned with a bite of her own. A bite to Sylvia's neck. Sylvia dropped, and scrambled to face Sid.

"That was easy. You see that, cubs? That's how you win a fight." The mother bear announced.

"Sidney, I... love y-you..." Sylvia managed to gurgle as the mother bear finished her off, while her cubs cheered with victory.

Luckily, Scrat had covered the baby's eyes with his body from the baby holding him.

Then, the mother bear raised her head in search of Sid. She spotted him behind the bush, and was about to attack him when a huge figure appeared next to the male.

Milly trumpeted menacingly to her. Even for the biggest predator of that part of the world, taking down an adult mammoth was an impossible challenge.

She snarled and left with her cubs.

Sid was too shocked to move, he could only think of the bravery Sylvia had. She didn't run away like he did once she got unpinned, she protected him. Sid's eyes went foggy as he thought back to the times he had thought she was annoying and always wanted to eat his friends. He stayed in the bush, unable to cope with what had happened.

Milly noticed Sid, and growled at him. "What's wrong with you? Tell us when you leave!"

Sid shook his head in reply. Milly sighed, seeing he was upset with something. Milly gently lifted Sid out of the bush. "What happened?"

"My friend was killed..." Sid responded quickly, the sentence made him break down into sadness.

Milly wrapped her trunk around him, comforting him as he breathed heavily. Diego looked displeased and as if he wanted to head back.

"So emotional..." Diego noted. "I've had tons of friends die. My wives and family too. Pfft."

"SHUT UP!" Milly roared.

Diego lowered his ears and backed away slightly, surprised with the mammoth's roar.

"You should rest," Milly mused.

"O-Okay..." Sid agreed.

Milly glared at Diego as she walked by Sid's side. Scrat gently nuzzled Sid. The baby cooed, almost as if he was asking what had happened.

* * *

 **I hope you liked it!**

 **Please review, and fave and follow if you didn't yet!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Here's the new chapter! Enjoy! :D**

 **I know it is a bit longer than how the chapters usually are, but I felt like this is the way it should end.**

* * *

A few hours later, Sid had been able to recover from his loss, knowing that Sylvia wouldn't have wanted him to cry over her death.

But one thing was certain, the bear would have never forgotten what she did to him despite how badly he treated her, nor forgiven himself for doing so.

Sid suddenly realized he was being left behind, as Milly, with Scrat and the baby on her back, and Diego were walking faster than him.

"Hey, guys, wait for me!" He exclaimed.

Sid wasn't a good walker. By dint of only eating vegetables and never chasing a prey, he became very lazy, so much so that he stayed in the same cave for almost his whole life.

Now, he really find it difficult to keep up the pace with a chaser and a migrant.

"Come on, slow down a little!" The bear yelled, as the distance between him and the group increased more and more.

Suddenly, they stopped near what looked like a pond. Sid was finally able to reach them.

"Whoa, thank you!" He said, and jumped into the water, looking for some relief from his foot pain, due to having walked.

"Three, two, one." Milly and Diego counted in one voice.

Sid's eyes opened wide as he realized the water was very hot.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Hot spring!" He screamed as he ran out of the water. It clearly wasn't just a pond.

 _"Let's see if a prank war is enough to cheer him up."_ Milly thought, smirking.

* * *

Not much later, Sid was walking with the baby and Scrat on his back. Pinky was trying again to hug Scrat, who, though, had no intention to let him do that.

So, the rodent kept staying as far away as possible from the human, hissing at him, and even hitting him when he got too close. This ended up in a brawl between them.

"Guys! Stop fighting!" Sid exclaimed, and raised a paw to try to separate them.

But that made him tilt, causing Scrat to fall on the baby and complicating things. It went on for several minutes, and the sounds made Milly and Diego, who were walking ahead of the bear, side by side, irritated.

"Stop it! Now!" The mammoth demanded.

"I didn't start it!" Sid complained.

"The next time anybody moves, I'll get a new chew toy!" Diego roared, making Sid, Scrat and even Pinky separate in fear.

"Good job, Daddy." Milly joked, and the scimitar cat glared at her.

* * *

Milly was now holding the baby with her trunk, while Scrat stayed on Sid's back.

The group stopped in front of a red flower.

A herd of muskoxen, that was instead moving east, passed, running.

The air movement made the flower losing its petals, revealing a big, green leaf under them.

The mammals started walking again.

* * *

Diego jumped on a flat rock, that looked just like a seesaw, from a small cliff. He smelled the air.

Milly, approaching him, nodded towards the cliff.

"Huh?" The carnivore looked up, only to see Sid jumping too.

Diego realized he was in the "seesaw" end that was on the ground. He gulped and, as soon as the bear fell on the other end, the cat was sent into the air, screaming.

 _"One down."_ Sid laughed.

* * *

Sid, who had Scrat and the baby on his back again, looked at a snowbank, and then at Milly, walking ahead of him.

He smirked and swiped the snow on her with his snout.

The mammoth turned, but the bear had already cleaned off his face and was now pointing at Scrat and Pinky.

Milly frowned, doubting that the the small mammals did it, but simply decided to ignore them and walked away.

 _"And two down."_ Sid smiled maliciously, while the squirrel and the human glared at the bear for putting blame on them.

* * *

"Ah, these modernists." Milly rolled her eyes, passing a rock with several stone figurines, made by humans.

Diego didn't even pay attention to them, while Sid and his "passengers" looked at them curiously.

* * *

While walking in a hole in the rock, Diego noticed four rhino footprints, one next to the other.

Evidently, Carl and Frank had been here too. But it wasn't a problem if Milly and Sid smelled them, they wouldn't have thought the rhinos were the ones who tried to kill them.

But how many chance of having two rhinos, solitary animals, definitely males, due to the size of the footprints, could there be?

Diego needed to think fast, as the others were getting closer and closer.

Then, a stroke of luck: three of the footprints got cancelled by the snow falling, that changed direction because of the wind. However, Diego's body prevented it from cancelling the fourth one.

The scimitar cat cancelled it and, to justify the fact that he had stopped, draw a human footprint towards north, with only four toes.

When Milly and Sid reached him, he pointed north, as confirmation that they were heading the right direction.

The bear smiled, while the mammoth was just confused. Scrat became suspicious, as he looked at the five toes on the baby's hand and at his "foot cover".

* * *

 _"Why do I keep getting caught up in these situations?"_ Milly wondered, trying to balance herself on the ice, that was luckily very thick there.

"Hi, Milly." Sid laughed, slipping around her with Pinky and Scrat on his back. For the bear, being a plantigrade, it was easy.

The human was enjoying it, while the rodent was just annoyed.

"Hi, Diego." He circled the scimitar cat, who was sticking his claws in the ice, not to fall.

However, without knowing it, Sid ended up in a part of the ice that was instead thin. It broke and he fell in the water, while the small mammals landed on the "rink" safely.

"Hi, Sid." Milly, carrying the two, and Diego smirked shortly after that, walking away and watching the bear, still in the water, panting and resting his head on the ice.

* * *

"I can't believe we got lost." Milly complained.

"We aren't lost." Diego stated, and smelled the air. But he didn't move, a sign that the big herbivore was right.

Milly spotted a female squirrel on a rock not far away.

"Hey, Scrat, go to her and ask her if she saw humans passing by." She explained.

"And ask her if she saw other animals, this could help us." Sid added.

The rodent nodded and quickly reached her. The big mammals and the baby watched the two talking for a minute. When Scrat returned, he seemed very worried, especially while glaring at Diego.

"So, has she seen humans?" The mammoth asked.

The squirrel quickly shook his head.

"And what has she seen, then?" She questioned.

Scrat put his fingers on his head, trying to mimic a horned animal.

"Reindeer?" Sid proposed.

The squirrel shook his head again, and pretended charging "Uh…bisons…muskoxen?"

"Rhinos?" Milly suggested, and Scrat nodded.

Diego's eyes opened wide, and the rodent glared at him. The cat couldn't believe it: evidently, the female squirrel even told him what the rhinos were saying, surely something about the plan, and Scrat realized Diego wasn't who he said he was.

"I just hope they'll be nicer than the ones we met." The bear said.

"Well, did she see anything else?" The mammoth inquired.

The squirrel nodded and glared at Diego once again, before starting to mimic a predator.

"Long claws…and teeth." Sid spoke "Uh, wolves?"

"Or bears?" Milly continued.

"Maybe lions."

While discussing, the bear turned to the mammoth, involuntarily preventing her from seeing the squirrel, who started pointing at Diego.

The scimitar cat approached him and put a hand on his head.

"Listen, snack, you better keep the secret." He hissed, whispering "You know, I'd have no problem eating you in one bite this night, they'd just think you left."

He pressed his paw on his head, making all the food in his cheeks coming out of his mouth. Then, Diego buried it in the snow, and put him back on his feet.

"So, Scrat, which direction is the right one?" Diego asked so that Milly and Sid could hear him, stop talking and turn to them.

Scrat pointed at it and ran towards it, followed by Diego and then by Milly and Sid who looked at each other confused.

"Saigas?" The bear asked, watching him run so fast.

* * *

Sid spotted another snowbank and, after piling up even more snow on it, he threw it to Milly.

She turned angrily, and before the bear could point at his "passengers", they were already pointing at him. Plus, he forgot to clean his snout.

Milly walked menacingly towards him, taking the baby and letting Scrat jump on her. Then, the buried the bear into a snow wall.

"Me down." The bear muttered.

* * *

It started raining, wetting the mammals, and then a harsh snowstorm started.

The water on Diego's fangs froze, turning them into icicles.

On Milly's tusks, instead, several stalactites formed. Luckily, the baby was curled up in her fur, so he wasn't so cold.

Sid was attempting to help Scrat, clutching him to his chest with one of his front paws, walking with the remaining three. However, he noticed his claws, not retractable, were frozen, gasped and blew on them, trying to keep them warm.

* * *

Sid and Milly had stopped by a coppice to eat the berries growing off of them and Diego thought he might go ahead to hopefully report to his pack about his progress. Scrat was stuffing his mouth with roots and berries while Sid was helping Pinky get his food.

"I'm going to go ahead." Diego told them.

"Are you coming back?" Milly glared at him.

Diego nodded. "I am."

Milly narrowed her eyes at him as he left. "I don't know if I should trust him..." She told Sid, who was looking at her and responded inarticulately with a mouthful of berries.

For a while, Diego seemed to be the only thing in the tundra, no horizon to be seen, since the sky and the snow seemed the same color. Diego's sense of smell wasn't the best, but he used his eyesight, hoping to see them. He sighed in realization that his pack was smart enough to not to be seen by anything. He would have to rely on his scent. He remained deep in these thoughts until the scent burst into his nose. No doubt it was a pack scimitar cats. It was faint, as if they were covering their scent with another animal, perhaps their meal.

He ran swiftly, but he was still hoping not to be suspicious to any animals who may be watching him curiously. He stopped, realizing they were in an icy cavern. This was perfect for their plan. He knew what to do.

He rushed the short way back and Milly seemed surprised about his return, while Sid and Pinky just bounced happily. Diego needed to get Milly and Sid to argue, so that they and the baby would be distracted. That way, he could pull the aggravating rodent, Sid called Scrat to the side and threaten him, so his plan could work. After all, he needed someone to run in the cavern.

"Um, Milly." Diego announced.

Milly glanced around at Sid and the others as if she was unprepared. "Yes?"

"You sure care about your mate, huh?" Diego commented, as Milly gave some of the berries she disliked to the bear he gulped them up.

"What? No!" Milly shrieked.

Sid looked hurt. "You don't care about me?"

"Well, I... You're not my responsibility! I shouldn't have to care for you."

Sid whimpered. "So... you don't care? Even a little?"

Milly growled. "You're not focusing on the big issue! I'm not your mate!"

As the mammoth and bear argued, Diego approached Scrat, who lowered his ears both hatefully and fearfully.

"Guess what?" Diego snarled. "We're going to continue on our journey soon, and once we spot a cavern you're running in without a second thought, got it?"

Scrat looked at Diego with a challenging face.

"Or else I will kill that stupid free travel ride for you." Diego hissed, nodding his head toward Sid.

This was clearly alarming to Scrat as he thought deeply. The cat wouldn't really do that... would he?

After a while and Diego growling and threatening him with his sharp claws, the squirrel nodded worriedly.

"Good."

After Milly and Sid settled their argument on that they cared for each other like "travel buddies", which Sid was fond of, hoping for their relationship next to become "friends", Diego and Scrat spotted the cavern.

Offhandedly, Scrat ran into the cavern. Diego was impressed, thinking he'd have to glower at the squirrel several times before he'd go.

"Where are you going, Scrat?" Sid asked loudly. "Wait for me! Please?"

* * *

After Scrat stumbled into the cavern while hearing Sid's pleas, the squirrel slipped and fell on the ice. His claws gripped the gelid iced ground.

"Scrat! Wait up!" Sid called to the squirrel.

Sid ran into the cavern and immediately lost his balance and fell on his snout. He winced as pain shot through his peccary cut. The baby cooed in wonder if Sid was okay. Diego came in after him, digging his claws into the ice as a reflex before he fell. Seeing everyone's shaken up looks, Milly walked in carefully. Diego scowled at Scrat, and the squirrel dug his claws into the ice as he dashed, slipping every few seconds while going deeper into the cave.

"Little buddy!" Sid yelled.

Sid fell as he reached his paw out to run and his body slid a little. As he stood up carefully and looked to his left, he saw a frozen ground sloth in the icy walls.

"AHH!" Sid yelped and fell on his stomach again before realizing the animal was behind the thick layer of ice. "Wow. That's a strange looking creature. It looks like it was kind of slow, don't you think, Milly? It looks friendly though! Too bad we couldn't be friends."

Milly snorted. "Sure. Get your furry friend out of here so we can go."

"Wait." Diego interrupted. "No need to leave. This cavern leads exactly where we need to go and it's... a shortcut."

"Don't know if you could see or not, but most of us are struggling to even stand up in here! Even you, Mr. Tough Claws." Milly growled.

The baby's basket slid off of Sid's back, and started sliding, but Sid gripped it with his teeth, stumbling over his own paws. The baby laughed and Sid smiled as an annoyed Diego helped return the basket to the bear's back.

"You're going to kill that baby before we can even return it." Diego growled.

"I am not!" Sid responded with an offended tone.

Scrat peeked around the corner, and Diego nodded that he could come back with a menacing glare.

"I got this." Sid announced as Scrat scrambled onto his back. "I'm carrying two passengers."

"You are the worst at walking on this ice out of all of us." Milly replied gruffly.

"Trust me!" Sid insisted. "I'm the best."

Sid lowered himself to the ground and gripped the ice strangely as he moved himself forward with slow care.

Diego nodded. "He'll be fine in here. No peccary attacks and no other animals for him to chase after unless he sees his own reflection."

"Whatever... Let's go, I guess." Milly sighed.

Diego approached a short ice cliff and was ready to jump down before Sid joined his side, making the ice shutter and crack. Diego hissed at him, but then Milly began to approach.

"Milly, wait!" Diego warned.

As Milly joined, the ice fell the short way and shattered. The animals weren't badly injured.

"Are you kidding me, cat?" Milly growled to Diego. "You seriously think a three second warning is enough? I don't have cat reflexes!"

Diego scoffed. "Hey, at least I tried."

"It's okay." Sid told them. "No need to argue, we didn't break bones."

Milly and Diego huffed in annoyance at each other as they went ahead, approaching a cave with a little bit of light.

* * *

 **What will they find there? Stay tuned for more!**

 **And don't forget to review! :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hi! Ready for the next chapter?**

 **I hope you enjoy it! :)**

* * *

As Milly, Diego, and Sid marched into the light they saw at the end of the cavern, the walls and sides seemed to narrow.

"I'm starting to realize I'm claustrophobic..." Sid whimpered.

Milly growled, looking over at the squirrel on Sid's back. "You can thank him for that."

Scrat glowered at Diego, but when Diego gently hissed, the squirrel dug his face into Sid's fur, grumbling.

"It's okay, buddy." Sid told Scrat. "Everyone makes mistakes."

Diego huffed, glancing at Sid. "Some more than others."

"That's not nice!" Sid replied sadly.

Milly sighed. "Let me deal with this."

Milly softly tapped the rodent on his back and Scrat lifted his head to meet her gaze. "Don't ever run into strange caverns without someone with you or at least letting someone know." She scolded, and met Sid's eyes. "Some mammals wouldn't be too happy if you were lost."

Scrat mewled with a hint of a growl before snorting to catch Milly's attention. He gave her innocent eyes, and curled his tail his body to appear cute.

Milly shrugged. "I can't stay mad at that face."

Sid smiled and they finally came upon the lighted walls of the cave. Though the light was dim, and there was clearly a trek ahead of them, something caught Sid's eye, and he paused. Sid jumped back, yelping in surprise as his paws became unstable under him.

"What?" Milly and Diego yelled.

Sid's back tilted and the basket with the baby nearly hit the floor again as Sid lost his balance. Sid caught it with his teeth, and the baby giggled. Pinky stumbled out of the basket, trying his best to walk on the ice as Sid supported him with his snout. Sid had seen one of the many cave paintings splattered across the surfaces of the walls. The painting was of a pack of a dozen orange scimitars chasing after a herd of hopeless saiga antelopes. Diego approached and a delighted grin spread across his face. Milly shook her head at the paintings.

"Waste of berries." She noted.

"Clearly we're praised by the humans... or at least, we were..." Diego sighed, thinking of his species.

"Don't worry, Pinky." Sid comforted the baby who had a fearful expression. He was looking at one drawing of a cat biting a saiga antelope's back leg. "The cat is just play fighting with the antelope."

"Let's play, Sid." Diego bared his teeth.

"Milly..." Sid remarked with an alarmed voice.

"What is it?" Milly asked gruffly.

Pinky grabbed onto one of Sid's legs to support him.

"Can we go a few steps without stopping for one of your useless problems?" Diego snarled to Sid. "This cave painting isn't scary at all."

Sid's ears flattened. "Well, it was scary to-"

"Let's just go." Milly rolled her eyes.

"Wait! Milly! Look!" Sid begged as he spotted another cave drawing.

The cow turned her head softly as Sid slowly approached one of the walls that was opposite of the scimitar painting.

"Hunters?" Sid questioned as he held Pinky close to his side.

Scrat sank into Sid's fur as the mammoth approached the walls, her breathing lighter and her stride becoming slightly weaker. Diego could tell she was trying to hide it, but she wasn't performing a great job.

"Milly?" Sid stated worriedly.

Milly gazed across the rock, spotting what all the drawings of the hunters were going after. Three mammoths. The larger of the three was a mammoth cow painted the color of umber. Under her were two calves, one larger than the other. The larger one was slightly bigger than half the size of the adult, and she appeared to be a dark tan color. Under the adult mammoth, was a small calf, looking to be quite young, around two years old. His fur was slightly lighter than his mother's.

Milly couldn't stop the memories from sliding in as they took the forms of the cave paintings.

A herd of various colored painted mammoth cows approached Milly.

"Mildred, let your calves play near the herd. It is much safer here." A dark amber painted cow suggested.

Milly shook her head. "I know how to take care of my own calves. They're safe with me."

A deep brown, nearly black mammoth cow drawing cut through the crowd of mammoths with a stern face. "Mildred, you and I both know disaster strikes and doesn't care who it hits. Frankly, we like your calves a lot. Our calves love them dearly, but how are we going to explain to them what happened when you and your calves don't return?"

"Exactly!" A dark red painted mother cried out. "What am I supposed to tell Victor?"

All the mothers nodded.

"I'm not going to let you tell me what to do, Rena." Milly hissed at the deep brown mammoth.

Rena towered over Milly with a glare, but Milly refused to stand back down. "Mildred. Listen. We're doing this for your own good too. The calves would live a happier life without having to worry about wolves, scimitars, lions and... humans..."

All the mammoths put their heads down.

"Ever since we lost Liz and her family to those ruthless... creatures... that's been the rule. Don't let yourself be the next victim!" A mother mammoth spoke up.

"Yeah..." The mothers agreed.

"Rena, you do realize that just because you're in a herd doesn't mean predators won't come, right? Since you and our herd haven't taught your calves that predators even exist, they'll become easily prey. My calves need to see the outside world. I don't want them to wander around mindlessly like your calves would if they got lost, separated, or even confronted a dangerous animal."

The mothers gasped as Rena sighed. "The calves have been trained to call out if they're in danger. Simple as that."

"That doesn't always work." Milly snarled.

"Just because your mother left you doesn't mean we'd leave your calves. We all love your calves. I'm pretty sure we all understand why your mother didn't come back for you though." Rena stated bluntly.

Milly growled angrily. "Don't you dare tell me that!"

The mothers nodded in agreement to Rena's statement.

Milly huffed angrily in Rena's face. "You may be the leader of this herd, but you'll never be the leader of my choices."

Milly stomped out of the crowd of mothers and into the crowd of startled calves. "Myra, Mason, let's go."

Myra and Mason exchanged looks, and left the other calves.

"What is it, mother?" Myra asked.

"We're going to spend some time away." Milly replied bitterly, thinking of Rena.

Milly looked at Myra and Mason smiling brightly and thought that if Rena and the rest of her herd saw that, they'd take back all their comments. They were the only thing that had made Milly feel good about herself. No matter what herd Milly was in, she was teased for being left behind and being overprotective and strict about her calves learning about nature and the dangers of it. Her calves loved her though, and they understood her. They wanted to learn from her.

Milly took them to a painted a greenery coppice where Myra collected berries and Mason played around happily. Milly watched her calves from afar, being vigilant. However, Mason stumbled out of Milly's sight.

"Mason?" Milly called out.

Mason returned moments later, looking worriedly stunned.

"What happened?" Milly asked her son.

"Herd." Mason replied.

Milly looked up, and the scent of humans became apparent. Milly's eyes widened and she feared the absolute worst. Milly ran swiftly, and she had taught Myra and Mason to follow her, so they did.

The screaming of the human tribe caught up, and Milly felt a sharp pain as a spear sliced her back leg. She kept running, ignoring her pain as she got her calves ahead of her.

"Go!" Milly told them.

Myra reluctantly went ahead, Mason closely behind her. Milly turned around as they left, and tried to fight of the humans heading toward her. Her tusks fought off a few of them, but Milly turned when she heard a strange noise. Humans had created a trap. Myra was holding Mason with her trunk under a cliff, as humans surrounded them from all angles. Milly had yelped and stomped around, but she was being speared and couldn't get passed the hunters.

Milly couldn't quite remember if the shrieks were from her or her children, but she pressed her eyes shut as she saw that the hunters were rising their spears up to her terrified calves.

"Mother!"

Milly's eyes had tears running down them as she had the cavern paintings play out her memories, but that wasn't all of it. Milly had escaped because of her anger fueled relentless tusk and trunk swings to a few humans. She had weakly returned to her herd, in hopes of obtaining their help, but Rena simply shook her head. She couldn't believe that even after losing both her calves and having her back leg badly injured didn't convince Rena to even show a speck of sympathy in her cold glare.

"You don't deserve help." Rena told her with no empathy. "You didn't listen."

The calls of the mothers followed Rena's remark.

"It should have been you!"

"It was all your fault!"

"You don't deserve anyone who loves you anymore!"

"Leave right now!"

Milly finally snapped out of her memories as Pinky cooed and put his hand on the cave painting of Milly's youngest, Mason. Milly wrapped her trunk around the baby and cuddled him with tears in her eyes.

Diego's eyes studied the painting's pattern. "I assume you strayed from your herd with your calves and they were killed by the humans?"

Milly nodded with tears, holding Pinky close.

Sid's ears drooped as he approached Milly. "It's okay, Milly. You couldn't have known the humans were out hunting that day."

Milly sighed. "They would have went after my herd anyway..."

"Exactly." Sid told her, nuzzling her legs along with Scrat. "It's not your fault."

Diego stepped forward and Sid backed up to give them privacy. "Why are you even returning the baby with everything that happened?" Diego asked with genuine curiosity.

Milly cuddled Pinky closer. "He didn't do anything wrong. He wasn't involved in the attack. But humans and scimitars are no different if you think about it, you both need to hunt to survive. Sometimes the circle of life unfortunately chooses you though... We're all doing the same thing. Trying to survive, and sometimes helping others alone the way..."

Diego thought about this deeply. They were getting revenge on a baby who had nothing to do with the deaths of their females... or the extinction of the scimitars. Milly was right, some animals needed to hunt... but was it bad to want revenge for the humans almost running them extinct? Diego thought of other possibilities, such as maybe just finding a new hunting ground and leaving the humans, but Diego growled at himself. He was here to get revenge, not to make friends and question his brother's plan... right?

Milly, Diego, and Sid continued their journey.

* * *

 **So, what's your opinion? Do you like Milly's backstory?**

 **If so, compliment Ninxi for that, she wrote the whole chapter!**

 **And stay tuned for more! :D**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello! :D  
**

 **New chapter out,** **I hope you like it!**

* * *

"So that's Half Peak?" Sid asked, looking at the strange rock formation several miles ahead of them.

"Yes." Diego replied coldly, still deep in thoughts, hoping that the bear would stop talking.

"How do you think it formed?" He continued.

"I don't know… maybe it was a normal peak that collapsed with an earthquake." Milly, who was holding the baby, proposed.

"I guess so." Sid shrugged.

"The important thing is that our journey is almost over." The mammoth smiled at the baby in her trunk, who cooed.

"Uh." Sid stopped walking, feeling hot water under his paws.

Scrat spotted it and glared at his friend in disgust, thinking he had "relieved himself" at the wrong time.

"I didn't do it!" He reflected to find an explanation "Perhaps my paws are just sweating."

"Only horses and humans sweat, Sid." Diego, who had already distanced from him with Milly, rolled his eyes.

"And only when it's warm." The cow added "Which is never."

"And what if sweating is contagious?" He spoke "Think about it, different species usually don't mix, so we could be the first to know."

"Why do you always have to draw attention on yourself?" Diego questioned irritated.

"It's just self-dramatization, keep walking, he'll stop it sooner or later." Milly spoke.

"Will you listen?" Sid exclaimed "My feet are really hot!"

His friends ignored him, but stopped moving too when they heard a rumbling sound.

"What was that?" The mammoth asked.

"An avalanche?" The scimitar cat told her, hoping that she could see it because of her height, even if she had poor eyesight.

"I don't think so." She replied worried after looking around.

"Oh, relax, it might have been just Diego's stomach." The bear tried to reassure them.

All of a sudden, a part of the ice that was behind them was thrown up in the air by an explosion of lava. The group shouted and ran away as fast as possible.

Other similar explosions surprised the mammals. Sid, with Scrat holding on to his fur, reached both Diego and Milly, being the fastest of the group, and placed on the mammoth's left side, that was apparently intact. The scimitar, instead, was forced to stay behind the mammoth due to the explosions.

The steam quickly surrounded the five, who weren't able to see each other. And when it thinned out, Milly, still holding the human, was the only one who had an ice bridge that could take her to safety. Sid and Scrat were, instead, on a platform on her side, that wasn't so far from her or the solid ice. The trio turned and saw Diego on another platform, behind the mammoth and clearly too far to let him jump to where she was. He was trying to hide his shock, unsuccessfully.

"Diego!" Sid shouted.

Even if the cat had always threatened him, the bear didn't want him to die, and neither did Milly.

"What do we do?!" Sid, scared to death, exclaimed.

The mammoth knew exactly what to do.

"Take Pinky!" She pulled the baby out of the basket, to make sure he wouldn't have fallen, and extended his trunk to Sid and Scrat's platform, so that the former could take him.

"Now jump!"Milly yelled when the bear had the baby clutched to his chest with one of his front paws.

Sid gulped but, after receiving a nod from Scrat, he jumped with all his might, groaning, and landed safely on the ice along with his passengers.

Then, Milly turned to Diego.

"Save yourself, don't worry about me!" He shouted, having accepted his fate.

"Shut up and jump!" She ordered.

The cat was sure she wouldn't have left him there, given how stubborn she had been in the last two days. So, he jumped, and when he thought he would have fallen in the lava, he was grabbed by Milly's trunk.

"The ice bridge!" Sid alerted them.

She realized it was cracking. It didn't make sense to try to cross it in two, they both would have risked their lives.

So, the cow just threw the cat next to the bear, and watched the bridge falling in the lava. Mammoths couldn't jump, so she was doomed.

"No!" The bear yelled, shocked just like Scrat and Pinky were.

Diego didn't understand. Soto, his brother, would have killed him if he wasn't able to take the baby, while Milly didn't let him die even if he wasn't even her friend.

The mammoth felt cracking under her. The platforms had stayed intact because the pillars under them had not-melted rock in the lower half, but the rest was ice, that couldn't last long at that temperature.

The platform and the part of the pillar made of ice started tilting towards the solid ice. But, again, Milly wasn't able to jump, so this only made Sid, Diego, Scrat and the baby see the terrified look on her face, before she disappeared under the cliff, trumpeting.

"Milly!" The bear screamed in shock, this time in one voice with the cat.

This couldn't have happened. That was the thought of the three adult mammals. Sid couldn't believe he had lost someone who was willing to save his life, risking their own, for the second time; Diego, instead, couldn't believe she had died that way… not into the jaws of his brother, surrounded by starving scimitars and angry rhinos, but in the lava she had fell to save him. While Scrat couldn't believe she gave her life for the one who was planning to kill her; the mammoth didn't know that, but the squirrel did, and if he was able to tell her about it, this wouldn't have happened.

Sid and Diego looked at each other speechless for a moment, before hearing a loud sound.

They reached the edge of the cliff very carefully, and looked down, only to see that Milly had luckily ended on a large rock ledge.

"Milly!" Sid called again, but she didn't reply. "We must get there!" He told Diego.

The two were able to climb the cliff down, thanks to several other ledges that could have allowed even Milly to go up, if she was fine.

"Hey, Milly, Milly, are you okay?" Sid hurried to her, with no response.

After a few moments, she slowly opened her eyes and, after coughing, murmured gibberish.

"What did you say?" The bear asked.

"She could talk if you removed your dirty paw from her trunk!" Diego exclaimed, unable to hide his concern.

"Oh, sorry!" Sid did it immediately, letting her breath.

"Before you ask, I'm fine, I've just rolled here, not fallen, I'll be on my feet soon." She said.

"That's great!" The bear exclaimed, jumping happily.

"A thank-you would be nice." Milly told Diego, with a little laugh.

"Uh, yeah, thank you." Diego smiled slightly "But why did you save me? We're basically strangers."

"That's what you do in a herd, you look out for each other." She explained "Or at least, that's what a herd should do… no matter how weird or different the member in trouble is."

"A mammoth, a bear, a scimitar, a squirrel and a human… not your ordinary herd." Sid spoke.

"Definitely." Diego looked at the four mammals in front of him. The innocent eyes of Sid and Pinky, the angry eyes of Scrat and the kind eyes of Milly were all on him.

And for the first time, he felt guilty.

* * *

At Half Peak, Soto was looking impatiently at the horizon, hoping to see a scimitar, a mammoth and a bear, carrying a human, heading that direction.

He thought the moment was coming when he saw two big forms appear from behind a hill.

"There they are!" Keke exclaimed excited, reaching Soto's side.

"Finally, I'm starving!" Jenny added happily.

"No." The male spoke annoyed "Do they look like a mammoth and a bear to you?"

As the two approached, the scimitars were able to identify them.

"Rhinos?" The thin female talked "What's a pair of rhinos doing here?"

"Who cares?" The fat one questioned, licking her lips "They look delicious!"

"Would you shut up?!" Soto snapped "There's something weird."

"What are you talking about?" Keke asked.

"Rhinos are solitary, and don't migrate." He explained.

"Let's attack them!" Jenny proposed "They even lack their bigger horns!"

"Negative, we'd have no chances anyway." The male informed "Hide downwind and not show up until they've left."

The two females groaned sadly and did what their leader ordered. Then, Soto did the same.

Not long after that, the rhinos reached the lower part of Half Peak.

"This is the smell of scimitars." The stockier one affirmed "See? He was telling the truth."

"But, Carl, what if this is a set up?" The taller one inquired, slightly worried.

"Again, the pack was in _my_ territory and I know humans wiped out most of it, Frank." Carl stated "Otherwise, I wouldn't have trusted that cat."

Soto listened their conversation with interest, especially the last two words.

"What was his name?" Frank tried to remember.

"Er… Diego." The shorter rhino replied.

At the mention of his brother, Soto jumped out of his hideout, surprising the two, but keeping a distance.

"It must be his brother." The slimmer one whispered.

"Soto?" Carl asked.

"Who's asking?" The scimitar questioned, skeptical.

"Your brother Diego sent us." Carl explained "We've a grudge against the mammoth you plan to kill, and we'd like to help you bring her down."

"Very nice." Soto smirked, and turned "Girls, come on out!"

Keke and Jenny timidly showed up from behind some rocks, slowly approaching their leader.

"Oh, great, it's a pack of mangy kitties!" Frank complained, looking at them.

The females growled, while Soto, feeling that the rhino's comment wasn't just about the ladies, started walking towards him menacingly.

"Do you want to know how this pack of mangy kitties is gonna do to that mammoth?" He spoke, turning to Keke and Jenny and nodding towards Frank, then doing the same with the other rhino, who understood what he had in mind and smirked.

"First, you'll have to surround the cow, not letting her any chance of escape." The female scimitars blocked the rhino's right side, while Carl blocked the left one.

"C-Carl?" Frank muttered.

"Then, you'll distract her, clawing, biting or ramming her legs, body and trunk as much as you can." He continued, walking behind the worried rhino.

"And finally, I'll jump on her back…" Soto jumped on Carl, smirking "and I'll go for the throat."

Frank looked at him and gulped.

* * *

 **Review?**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello, everyone!**

 **I'm really sorry I kept you waiting, but the good news is that Ninxi and I finished to write the story, so I'll publish the next and final chapter very soon. Enjoy! :D**

* * *

Once Milly, Diego, and Sid exited the cavern, it began to snow.

Milly snuggled Pinky closer to her. "Hope this doesn't turn into a blizzard."

"Me too." Sid commented.

Sid looked at the canyon walls and spotted a painting of a bear ahead. Sid rushed to it and a stone below the drawing caught his eye. To Sid, it looked just like a plain rock, but it seemed to be the same color as the painting. Could it be the tools they used to make these masterpieces? Sid had always wanted to try replicating it.

"Humans must not only use berries for their drawings." Sid told Milly and Diego.

Milly stopped to see what the bear was doing. "Right. What else do you think they use?"

"Rocks?" Sid questioned as he tried to scoop the stone into one of his paws.

Sid growled a whimper when he looked up at the picture once more. He didn't like that the humans had painted the bear with unrealistic sharp teeth, claws, and a mean expression. Sid rubbed the rock over the bear's face and smiled at the result, continuing on. Milly and Diego exchanged confused glances, but when Sid pulled away to uncover his creation, Milly and Diego snorted into laughter.

"What?" Sid whined, accidentally dropping the strange rock.

The bear picture now had messy and goofy grin, the claws were more furry, and there were two strange looking creatures on his back that were meant to be Pinky and Scrat.

"You're missing something important about you." Milly sighed in amusement.

"Yeah." Diego agreed. "It needs to be more round."

Diego approached, grabbing the rock between his teeth drew a sloppy circle around the bear's stomach. Milly and Diego laughed, but Sid snorted in displease.

"At least make it realistic!" Sid announced, and then snatched the rock from Diego.

He rubbed the rock against the wall vigorously to fill in the circle Diego made, until he yelped in pain from a burn. He had created a spark from the movement and it had lit twigs that were set all around the canyon wall. Milly, Diego, and Sid backed up, clearly startled. Scrat hid himself and Pinky clapped.

"You made... that? How did you make that?" Milly asked.

"Only humans can make that!" Diego snarled.

Sid cautiously sniffed the fire from a distance. "Humans and bears must only have this power!"

"No, you idiot!" Diego hissed, motioning over to Pinky. "Humans have weird paws, that's why they can do it. How do you think they can draw those pictures? I've seen it before since my pack used to... study them."

"Are you saying I have weird paws?" Sid inquired with offense. "I think I might just be the Lord of Flame!"

Milly snorted with a smirk. "Hey, Lord of Flame, your tail is burning."

Sid looked at his tail, to see the end of it was being singed. He yelped as he patting it out. Scrat held on for dear life. Diego clawed Sid's leg, causing the bear to trip and fall over on his tail while the fire on his tail lost oxygen and stopped.

"Oh thank you!" Sid smiled. "I think I'll start calling you Diego."

"I'm Lord Tear Off Your Head!" Diego snarled in reply.

Sid whimpered and backed up, but not before Diego playfully bit his neck fur to knock him over. Once Sid was on the ground, Diego roughed up his head fur. "I'm just kidding, you squirrel-brain."

Scrat hissed at the cat for the comment, but Diego ignored it. Sid and Diego were interrupted by Pinky gently getting up and starting to walk. Milly caught him with her trunk when he almost fell, and he slowly wobbled across the ground. He had a big smile on his face and giggled when he lost his balance. Even Scrat seemed to be watching intently.

"Our cub is growing up so fast, Milly!" Sid beamed.

Milly rolled her eyes. "He's not our cub, Sid."

"Oh, right. I'm more like his big brother, huh?" Sid smiled. "Come to big brother Sid, Pinky!"

Pinky began to approach Sid, but he then noticed something else and went its way. He fell into Diego's paws, causing the startled scimitar to nearly launch himself into attack mode from not expecting the human to come to him.

"Oh, um... good job?" Diego told the baby as Pinky pat his paws. "Good practice."

The baby giggled his way back to Milly, where she wrapped him in her trunk, listening to his silly noises as Sid marched over to Diego and sat beside the confused cat.

"Have you ever had a friend who'd risk her life for you like that?" Sid asked Diego, smiling at Milly.

"No..." Diego sighed. "Milly's a great mammal."

"I think Milly is going to leave after Pinky is returned." Sid shrugged.

"Probably."

"I know you don't like to hear me rant." Sid looked Diego in the eyes sincerely and whined at the thoughts of Sylvia coming to mind. "But, I do regret what happened with Sylvia. She saved my life... but she..." Sid stopped himself, not wanting to finish the sentence and Diego nodded, understanding. Sid sighed and cleared his throat. "What I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't waste her friendship. I can't make up for how I treated Sylvia... she wasn't as lucky as Milly. Since you have the chance, you should stay with a true friend like her. Don't you think? Not every mammal risks their life for another."

Scrat nudged Sid with care and Sid looked toward him thankfully. Sid stretched and yawned. "Good night, Diego."

"Night, Sid."

Sid closed his eyes to rest, along with Scrat. Diego wondered if what he was doing was wrong. He hadn't realized he'd been slowly bonding with the mammoth and the bear the whole time. Sid was right, he couldn't betray Milly after what she did. She had risked her life just to save a shifty cat that she barely knew. Did she potential in him? Did she have a plan to betray him too? Or was it more simply... that she was telling the truth about herds looking after each other, and she really did care about him? Diego growled to himself again, as if to scare the thoughts about Milly and Sid away. He was here to get revenge on the human tribe for his pack and his brother. He needed to prove himself and befriending a herd-less mammoth and a desperate bear was certainly not the way to do that.

* * *

Diego shouldn't let himself be conflicted about a mammoth's friendship. He'd be disgrace to all the remaining scimitars in the world if he accepted it, yet... he wanted to. She was such a genuinely caring mammal, along with Sid, despite him being greatly annoying. Even if he wasn't on great terms with Sid's squirrel, he saw a powerful loyalty between the pair. The baby also seemed to care about Diego. Diego couldn't help but think of how disappointed his brother would have been for him even having these thoughts. Soto had always been a perfect alpha, not only he was older, but he was sly and clever. He'd would've left his pack in shambles with how emotionally stupid he was being right now. What if-

"We're almost there, friends." Milly announced, interrupting Diego's thinking.

"FRIENDS?" Sid yelped in so much excitement that Diego was sure all the happiness he'd seen and experienced combined wouldn't compare.

Milly's expression looked as if she was regretting the word, but she sighed and smiled gently. "Yeah."

Great. Now Diego felt even worse. She considered him a friend. Friends NEVER betrayed one another, let alone plan ruses to kill them. Sid appeared as if he was going to explode from his happiness, which was amusing.

"It was nice to meet all of you." Milly continued sincerely.

"Of course it was!" Sid shouted with the widest smile.

Diego looked down, unable to meet the cow's gaze. "Yeah... it, uh, really was."

Diego could barely get his thoughts together as the light from the cave mouth grew nearer and nearer. He had only a few seconds to choose. Two paths lay ahead. Betray his friends... no, "travel buddy" mammals, or his brother and his pack. He watched as joy filled the faces of the mammoth, bear, squirrel, and the baby. All unsuspecting of a nearing attack. He couldn't betray them. Milly risked her life, Sid was trying so desperately to be his friend and was cheering him up... but his brother would be so-

"Y'know, it's your last chance to tell Milly you'd like to stay in her herd." Sid whispered into Diego's ear.

"Milly." Diego stated impulsively.

"Hmm?"

Today, this second, was the most stressful moment in Diego's entire life. Even more stressful then his first hunt and his father and brother watching. This was his final choice. No going back.

"I've... I..." Diego struggled.

"Come on, Diego, you can tell her anything." Sid reassured.

"I've been setting you up. I was ordered to follow you and lead you to Half Peak so my pack could attack you." Diego stated swiftly. Diego was breathing quickly and quietly, as if he'd been chasing an antelope herd for weeks on end.

"Heh, you've got a strange sense of humor, Diego." Sid smiled.

"I'm serious." The cat sighed. "I... my brother's pack attacked the human village and I chased the baby's mother to jump. Since Milly and you wouldn't let the baby go, my brother decided I should trick you... our pack was really hungry... needed the food and the revenge on the tribe for killing our members... but-"

"YOU WHAT?" Milly's voice was booming and made Diego's heart beat even faster.

Of course, he couldn't blame her. He would have been angry as well, but he had been hoping she'd be understanding. However, he didn't expect the next part as she shoved him against the side of the cavern with her tusk to his throat. He felt as the tip of her tusk sliced the skin of his throat and pain shot through him.

"YOU PRETENDED TO BE MY FRIEND?" Milly growled.

He hadn't been this terrified for years. The air was leaving him as he struggled adjacent to the wall. He couldn't escape the grasp of the cow, she was way too strong and he was debating on if he had picked the right choice.

"Diego..." The cat briefly heard Sid say.

His vision and hearing were disappearing and he needed Milly to understand. "M...Mil-"

"What?" She stated angrily.

"I... I...I'm on... you...r side..."

Milly released some of pressure but not completely so he could talk a little better. "I... wouldn't... have w...warned you... if I wasn't... on your... side."

Milly realized this and dropped him. Her anger didn't disappear, but she sighed aggressively.

Suddenly, an orange scimitar came into the cavern and looked between the large deep bleeding gash on Diego's neck and and the slightly stained tusk of Milly's. Her tusk had skimmed his throat when she had shoved him into the wall, and she didn't realize how harsh she had been. She shouldn't regret it, right? He'd tricked her and was probably still using her. So why did she feel so bad?

"Are you the leader of your ambush?" Milly snarled to the scimitar that entered the cavern.

"Why, yes." The cat spoke truthfully and with a delighted grin. "I recognize you. You're that mammoth that had two calves, huh?"

"Sorry, Mr. Smarty, but lots of mammoths have two calves." Milly responded bitterly, trying not get emotional over her past again, certainly not in front of a stranger that was likely hoping to hunt her.

"Well, of course." Soto continued, not losing his smile. "But you're unique. You strayed from your herd."

Milly's cold glare turned into an interested glower, but she tried to dismiss her confused thoughts.

"I know you have the baby." Soto spoke gently. "But there are so many things you don't know about it."

"What lies do you need to tell me?" Milly muttered.

Soto smirked at her. "Did you know that its tribe killed your calves?"

Milly hissed. "You don't know that!"

"Oh, but I do. I have only been stalking one human tribe my entire life - the baby's. I followed them and saw those creatures kill your calves. The proof is all there. How would I have know about you if I didn't follow their tribe? Not many mammoths stray from their herd. I think it makes you strong and inspiring. Really, you should join us. Get the revenge you deserve."

Milly's glower turned into a frightened expression but she shook it off and turned it into a harsh glare. "That's his tribe! Not him. He had no control over that."

Sid and Milly shared a glance, and Sid gave a her proud smile.

"That's too bad." Soto sighed but then the delighted grin came to his face. "Team. Show yourselves."

The two rhinos Milly had attacked before approached, looking as bloodthirsty as ever. Two scimitars followed as well who looked concerned, yet hungry.

Diego gasped for air and tried to get himself up. The cut on his neck ached, but he didn't want his brother to go anywhere near Milly or Sid.

"I think you made the wrong choice." Soto remarked. "Plus, you attacked my brother. If you kill him, it would be a waste of the orange scimitar species."

"We're going to kill you!" Carl shouted and approached Milly. Frank trailed behind him.

Soto shrugged. "Carl, Frank. We talked about this."

Carl backed up and sighed while Frank dipped his ears in embarrassment.

Soto neared Milly. "You're strong. You can't tell me you don't want revenge?"

"I said no!" Milly yelled.

Soto chuckled softly. "Your loss."

Soto pounced to hit Milly's neck with his fatal and sharp teeth. Diego jumped up and attacked his brother, clawing him with all his might. Milly was stunned, for the without the cat, she'd probably have a nasty cut on her neck. This act caused the rhinos to run toward Milly, while Keke and Jenny rushed toward Sid. Milly took the baby from Sid and rushed into the nearest rhino to her, smacking him into the rocky, rough wall while trying to keep her balance without dropping Pinky.

This battle made Sid anxious. He couldn't fight. Jenny jumped up and swiped to hit Scrat, but the squirrel tumbled off of Sid's back in time. He couldn't save his friends. He wasn't strong enough. He wasn't good enough. He wasn't prepared enough for their attacks. This was what many animals had told him over the years. He was too scared, so he ran as fast as he could. Scrat scampered after him.

* * *

 **Will Sid go back? Will the herd defeat the pack and the rhinos? Will the baby and his father reunite? Stay tuned to find out! :)**

 **Review?**


	12. Chapter 12

**Here we are, the final chapter of "Ice Age (2018)"!**

 **Enjoy! :D**

* * *

Sid stopped running as soon as he was sure he was far enough from Half Peak, breathing heavily.

"It's a disaster!" He exclaimed "All our friends are gonna die! And there's nothing we can do to help them!"

Hearing those words, Scrat bit his ear, the only way he had to reason with him.

"Ow!" The bear complained, and turned at the squirrel, now on his back, who was looking at him disappointed.

"You're right. I could do something, but, I mean, deadly rhinos and terrifying scimitars! What chance would I have against them?"

The squirrel sighed. He needed to communicate with his friend if he wanted to change his mind. Spotting a rock near there, he jumped from the bear and reached it. Then, he took a very small rock from the ground and drew with difficulty a bear, roaring and on two legs, ready to fight. He pointed at Sid and at the drawing, as if to say "Do that!"

"I told you I've never fought in my whole life! I'm gutless, you know!" The bear admitted angrily and sadly, adding "If I don't see them die… at least I'll feel a bit less guilty."

Scrat understood his fear. A normal short-faced bear boar would have been able to wreck even a small pack of scimitars by himself, but not Sid. He was totally inexperienced in fighting and killing, being a coward vegetarian, he would have never take part in the battle unless… he had a motivation big enough.

And the rodent found it. He drew another bear, with a small wolf inside it, fighting the one he previously sketched. Below, he added a mammoth, a scimitar and a human baby, and other three scimitars and two rhinos near them. All very stylized, but distinguishable.

"What does Sylvia have to do with all of this?" Sid asked in confusion.

Scrat drew a "X" on Sylvia's portrait, and shook his head sadly, meaning that, obviously, there was nothing they could do for her anymore. Then, the squirrel pretended to draw another "X" on the sketches representing his friends, meaning "Do you want it to happen again?"

Sid didn't move at first, deep in thoughts and refusing to look in the eyes of his friend, but his expression quickly changed in a determined one. He took a bigger rock and, much to the squirrel's surprise, it drew a giant "X" on the portrayals of their enemies.

"Thank you, Scrat, you're a true friend." He smiled "And this time, I'm not gonna let my true friends die because of my cowardliness! I'll show them how important they're for me!"

The rodent smiled back and climbed on him, reaching his back. When the bear had made sure he was ready, he ran towards Half Peak at full speed, shouting a battle cry.

* * *

Diego and Soto were still fighting, both clawing and biting in an attempt to knock the other down. Carl, Frank, Keke and Jenny were instead attacking Milly from all her sides, and she was clearly in trouble; luckily, the four wouldn't have been able to kill her without the help of pack leader.

Milly had placed the baby in a hollow rock, protecting him with her own body; however, she involuntarily moved several feet away from him while fighting. Soto realized that this was the right time to take the human, and noticed that Carl and Frank were doing most of the fight and would have been able to handle Milly by themselves.

"Keke, Jenny, take the baby!" He yelled , before being cut off by Diego jumping on him.

The cow tried to follow the two female cats, but the rhinos stopped her, and Carl even stabbed one of her legs with his horn. Milly trumpeted in pain and watched the scimitars getting closer and closer to Pinky.

But, at the last moment, Sid appeared and put himself between them and the baby. He stood on two legs, reaching the same height as Milly, and let out a very long and loud roar. Everyone stopped fighting and looked surprised at the beast they always considered just a wimp.

Sid returned on four legs, while Scrat jumped in the hole where Pinky was, and ran towards Keke and Jenny. The bear hit the smaller cat with his paw, sending her flying a few feet away, while the fat one jumped on him and bit his side, but he was able to shake her away.

Soto and Diego, both already wounded, also started fighting again, but the former had a stroke of luck when his brother grabbed his upper half in an attempt to bite his throat. The alpha threw him away with all his strength, using his forelimbs, and caused the other male to hit a rock spike and lose consciousness.

Milly and Sid were too focused on their enemies to see what happened to their friend. Only Scrat, who was covering Pinky's eyes not to let him see the battle, realized that Soto was slowly walking towards the cow from behind. The squirrel knew he had to do something, he wasn't obviously fighting since scimitars were way more dangerous than peccaries, but he wanted to help his friends someway.

But what could he do? He was unarmed, and also didn't have the intelligence to create and use tools… not counting the ones utilized by his best friend, namely rocks to make paintings and fire. Scrat had an idea. He spotted some rocks in the snow, small enough to be lifted, and left the baby to take them, starting to climb a spike which top was right above Milly, Carl and Frank.

The mammoth was still fighting when she felt someone landing on her hindquarters, and turned to see Soto with a creepy grin on his face. She tried to make him fall, but the rhinos immediately began to fight harder and faster, preventing her from getting rid of the scimitar. The carnivore was waiting for the right moment to jump again, this time to reach the cow's throat.

Diego slowly opened his eyes, and saw his brother, ready to kill his best friend. He was the only one who could save her, as Sid was facing Keke and Jenny. He mustered up all the strength he still had in his body, despite his internal injuries, and when he eyed his brother jump, he did it too.

Soto landed on her shoulder hump, with his mouth wide open so that his fangs would have sunk into the pachyderm's neck, but when he was about to do that, Diego landed on it and got the bite on his shoulder. The good scimitar fell to the ground, and Milly realized in shock what he had done: he sacrificed himself to save her. Feeling definitely angry, she quickly stood on two legs, causing Soto to hold his grip, as he thought she was trying to make him slip.

He noticed too late that right behind the big herbivore there was a rock spike: he got squashed between it and Milly's back, and killed instantly. The other four looked at the scene stunned, when some sparks fell on Carl and Frank's fur and before they knew, they were burning. Milly looked up and Scrat, with two rocks in his paws, blinked at her; the rhinos screamed and ran away panicked, away from Half Peak. Keke and Jenny smirked to each other, licked their lips and chased the horned mammals, now an easy meal.

"We won!" Sid exclaimed happily, with the baby on his back, while Scrat jumped on the mammoth's hump. Though, they immediately realized someone was missing: Diego, currently lying on the ground and hemorrhaging from Soto's bite.

"If it's not enough to make you forgive me, I don't know what is." Diego said when they reached him, trying to laugh, but beginning to cough.

"I already put that behind me, friend." Milly smiled, trying to cheer him up, even though the sight of the blood didn't make it easy "I mean, we've a future as friends ahead of us, right?"

He slowly shook his head, implying what the others had already understood. "I'm sorry for… all of this."

"I killed your brother, I'm the one who should apologize." She sighed.

"No, you don't, he wasn't the same after what the humans did to us anyway. Rather, imagine if things went as he planned… I don't want to think how much and long I'd have felt guilty if you were killed." He replied.

"Oh, don't even talk about it! Things went well, we don't care about the rest." Sid affirmed kindly, and Scrat nodded, also shrugging to let him know he wasn't mad at him for the several death threats the cat gave him. Diego understood that and smiled at the squirrel, and then at the bear. Then, the latter placed the baby near the scimitar's face.

"Hey, little squealer." Diego smiled at him "Do one thing for me, okay? Take care of Mildred, Sid and Scrat… trust me, they'd be lost without you."

Pinky seemed to understand what was happening to the predator, as he, crying, hugged his face.

"Oh, I know you're just kidding… don't you cats have nine lives? Besides, we're big mammals, we can carry you, right Milly?" Sid asked hopeful.

The mammoth didn't reply, she was on an emotional roller coaster, and plus it brought back painful flashbacks. Diego looked up to meet her eyes. "Now go, return him to the humans before they get through Glacier Pass, is the last hope, just… leave me here."

"You shouldn't have done that." Milly spoke sadly.

"That's what… you do in a herd." Diego replied, lying his head on the snow and stopping to breath.

Pinky started crying and tried to hug the carnivore again, but Milly wrapped him with her trunk and lifted him. For a while, the four continued staring at their friend's dead body depressingly, before getting back on their journey.

* * *

Milly and Sid were in deep sorrow, something they couldn't just brush off and move on quickly from. Milly and Sid walked side by side without saying a word until Milly finally spoke up.

"We shouldn't mope. We need to be confident when we return Pinky to his parents." Milly stated, surprising Sid.

Even though she had said it with some restraint, it was clear she grew as mammal from her experience with the scimitar she had considered a friend. It was reassuring to Sid, and made him incredibly hopeful.

"I know." Sid replied with a quiet tone. "I feel like it's all my fault. If I hadn't been so awful to Sylvia, maybe she'd be here traveling with us." Sid's throat was tightening and his heart felt heavy and mournful. "And... and... if I hadn't run away... maybe I could have helped Diego... I could've-"

"Stop." Milly demanded, yet in a loving way rather than harsh, as Scrat brushed Sid's neck fur reassuringly. "You did your best. Nothing can change the past. You just have to move on and make a better future for yourself and other mammals."

Sid smiled proudly at Milly, knowing she had learned a lot from their strange friendship. "I can smell the humans are near."

"Good." Milly responded with a sigh. Why did she always have to be so emotional about their friendship? She growled at herself inwardly.

The humans were definitely near, Milly was beginning to pick up their scent as well. Her grip tightened on the baby, and all the he could do was pet the cow sadly. Milly put him on her back, supposing a mammoth with a chief's baby in their trunk would be slaughtered immediately. Scrat's hold on Sid was more tense as they approached from around the corner.

There stood a chief of a human tribe, dressed with more pelts and animal teeth than his tribesmen and women. His attire seemed mournful and dull compared to when Milly had seen the chief who had hunted her mammoth herd occasionally. Even from her painful memories, she remembered the chief being proud, colorful, and rich. He was no longer in a tan colored skin, but grey, like the sky. He was sharing a bracelet the same as Pinky's, of brightly colored stones and scimitar teeth on their left wrists almost as reminder or bond with his child. Milly knew this was likely the reason, having been a parent and wanting to stay in her calves' favorite spots and gaze at the artifacts they enjoyed during their lifetime. The man's sad and defeated face turned to one of surprise and anger. He barked something in their confusing language, and his warriors raised several weapons in response. Milly couldn't help it... it reminded her too much of losing Myra and Mason. With their deadly spears raised, her anxiety burned within her. Sid glanced over worriedly at his mammoth cow friend, noticing her hesitation and sadness. He couldn't blame her at all. The way the humans stared at them was unsettling. Their glares were strong and were standing their ground without showing much fear. Before he knew it, the chief raised his own spear. It was much sharper, one meant for the kill. Most of the spears were directed at Sid, since the humans were quite aware and unhappy a predator was so close.

Milly took her trunk back, realizing that it was probably a good time to return the baby before her and Sid got stabbed. The weapons of the humans stood taller, directing their aim to the umber colored mammoth cow. She hesitated slightly, but continued. She hardened her glare, and the chief rushed himself forward, but not before two of his loyal warriors. They were preparing to lunge their spears to protect their chief, and Milly only went faster, hoping to beat them in the overwhelming seconds. One of the warriors was beginning to toss their spear, and Milly watched fearfully as the chief noticed his son. He barked something, but it was too late, the spears were already tossed. However, the warriors had been able to aim them poorly once they heard their master's call, so it had only scrapped Milly's tusk and ear. Sid gasped and backed away. Despite the annoying pain, she nodded toward the bear in reassurance she was fine and leveled the baby to his father.

The chief gratefully scooped his son up in his arms, giving him a loving hug. The human told the baby something, causing Pinky to giggle and hug his father back in response. The tribe was on ease, watching the reunion with smiles. Milly and Sid exchanged a sweet smile of their own, before turning away from the tribe. It was no place for mammals like them to be near such creatures.

A yell came from the crowd of humans, and Milly looked back, shocked to see the chief holding one of his hands out to her, the other holding his child. She approached cautiously. The human did so as well, and slowly put the beautiful gemstone bracelet on her tusk. The scimitar teeth reminded her of Diego, so she accepted it without a second thought. Milly stared into his thankful hazel eyes, and she couldn't help but beam back. Milly was delighted as the chief put Pinky on the ground and him and his son played around happily. All of Milly's anxiety disappeared in a simple instant.

Sid nuzzled Milly's legs. "You did good."

She nuzzled him back, something she hadn't done in a very long time. "Thank you."

Scrat ruffed up Sid's fur playfully, earning a smile from both the mammoth and the bear. Milly and Sid watched until the humans were far enough away. Before Milly could go, Sid spotted something. The bear picked it up with his teeth and went over to the nearest rock. Milly watched him curiously, but said nothing. Once he was done, the mammoth walked over, seeing a picture. A sloppy, yet beautiful one. A goofy and friendly looking bear with a stern-faced squirrel sat on his back was there, with a human baby being supported on one of his legs. A mammoth cow was stood next to him, and above them, on a poorly drawn cliff, was scimitar, watching over the small herd. Milly smiled at her bear friend. She decided to see this painting as positive. Diego had died for them, and she wasn't going to waste such an honor. She was happy where she was and didn't need to try to be an impassive mammoth who tried with all her might to eat up her feelings. She could be free and happy, even if two of her friends were gone.

"I'm sure Diego is watching over your calves in the stars." Sid remarked.

Milly sighed happily. "Me too."

The three friends walked away together, ready to start a new journey as a herd.

* * *

 **THE END!**

 **Yes... I killed Diego. XD I'm sorry for those who wanted him to survive in this version too, but it is meant to be a darker story so I thought it would have been okay.**

 **I would like to thank Ninxi, the co-writer of this fanfiction, and those who faved, followed and reviewed it. Really, thank you so much! :)**

 **P.S. If you are wondering, there won't be a sequel of this story (a realistic version of Ice Age: The Meltdown). There are several problems: Diego's absence, lack of animal species that are accurate and/or similar to the ones of the movie, realistic mating systems (Milly wouldn't fall in love with Ellie's male counterpart because mammoths aren't monogamous),... so I concluded that the best thing to do was to stop it at one.**

 **And, well, I'll... read you around! XD**


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